


Like the blood of a siren (title is a work in progress)

by SilverSoul713



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Biting (eventually), Blood, Btw Virgil is super short, But almost instant crushes, But not scary zombies, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Demetria Park (Vampire OC), English is my second language, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Foreshadowing, Foster Parents, Housemates, Human Patton, I am trying to do foreshadowing, I want some Vampire Roman X Virgil stories and I will have them even if I have to write it myself!!, I'm Really Trying Here, I'm from Sweden, Ivory Winter (Lycan OC), Joan is here too, Katherine Cooper (Zombie OC), Lycans, M/M, Minor Character Death, My First Fanfic, Non-human Virgil, Oh and they're in school but that's not important, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Past Character Death, Remy is a human child, Roman Remus and Remy are brothers, Roman doesn't want to be a vampire, Some angst, Someone gets drunk at some point, Strong Language, Tags Are Hard, Valerie is Virgil's older sister, Vampire Remus, Vampires, Virgil is a precious bean that I will protect, Virgil is adopted, Virgil was born in Germany, Vomiting, Zombie Logan, Zombies, civilized monsters, don't know where I'm going with this, fictional anatomy, mentions of twilight, non-humans, nothing too graphic, sort of slow burn, the R trio has lesbian moms, vampire roman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2020-11-08 06:33:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20830964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSoul713/pseuds/SilverSoul713
Summary: Roman Prince and Virgil Adler are high school graduates, enrolling into the same College and moving into an apartment together, both strangers with their own baggage to carry. They hit it off easy enough, but Virgil has the sneaking suspicion that Roman is hiding something. Meanwhile, Roman is desperately trying to conceal what really is happening below the surface, whilst coaxing his adorably shy roommate out of his shell.Then shit hits the fan as the truth comes out.Writer's notes:Look, I don't know what I'm doing, I just want Roman to be a vampire and dating Virgil and I want Virgil to have a good life and having a hot as hell boyfriend. Ain't nothing wrong with that, right? No love at first sight, but both are crushing at each other hard very early on and it eventually develops into a loving relationship.





	1. First meeting

It hadn’t been that big of a deal in the beginning, just two college students looking for a convenient place to live near campus. It was decently soundproofed, being an old building and all, which is what caught the attention of the two very different individuals.

Roman Prince, a very loud and boisterous young man studying theater among other things, found that this living space was ideal for him, as his mothers had pointed out that should he have gotten a normal apartment he would often receive noise complaints. As bashfully as to be expected from such a proud man, he had agreed that it was probably the best course of action.

He came to his new residence at the ass crack of dawn, having been too hyped with energy to sleep through the night properly, to settle in. Though he knew logically that his soon to be roommate wouldn’t be there before him, or anytime soon for that matter, he still couldn’t help but feel disappointed when the other room proved to be completely barren.  
A few hours into unpacking he received a call from his ma, asking him why on Earth he couldn’t have waited until proper morning for them all to help him settle in and if he would be coming back with the family van anytime soon.  
He decided he had to unload the back of the car, getting most of his boxes into his designated living space, then get back home with the car.

It was when he rushed down the stairs after having left the final box in his new room that he unknowingly passed by his roommate, dark and handsome as he was. He nodded courtly to the stranger as he zoomed past him, almost startled by the intensity of this young man’s dark eyes.

He faced away from Roman, almost flinching in on himself and hurried his steps further up the stairs, carrying a bag pack slung over one shoulder and holding a large box in his sleeve covered arms.  
It happened quickly, but Roman managed to spot the black nail polish and smiled to himself. It was a small detail, but he was happy to see some people comfortable enough to break through the confines of stereotypes.

Virgil Adler, a quiet and reserved young high school graduate, stumbled into his new housing area with a rising feeling of dread due to the mess of boxes littering the… well, everywhere. Some of them stocked in a clumsy and dangerous fashion, others simply clogging up space he needed to move across.  
It seemed to him as though his roommate had started unpacking if the opened boxes further away were any indication, then realized he had to get the rest of his belongings but had only shoved all other things into the entryway before leaving. Which left Virgil to carefully fumble around the narrow hallway, even more narrow thanks to someone’s lack of hospitality, without falling over and breaking something, either his bones or his roommate’s possessions.

He found the unclaimed room furthest from the entry door and felt a familiar sense of security in the fact that it was so distant to everything else.  
He set down the box in his arms and the bag pack on an old IKEA model bed and looked around himself, tapping his fingertips together like a nervous ticking. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. In, hold and out.  
He repeated this pattern for a while, just standing in the barren room, his room and breathing slowly and controlled. Four, seven, eight, in, hold and out. Just like how his sister taught him.  
Then he started unpacking.

He began with making the bed, putting on his own covers rather than the spare ones already supplemented with the mattress and let his thoughts wander. Who was his roommate? What was he like? Would they even get along? Oh, god what if he hated him??  
These types of thoughts plagued his mind as he moved around in his new, surprisingly spacious room, filling up his closet and rolling out his carpet in the center of the floor. He did have to lift the bed frame slightly so the carpet didn’t roll over onto itself, but that was only a minor inconvenience. He stocked up his desk, placing his laptop onto it along with his drawing tablet and left his small box of art supplies underneath the desk drawer.

Every once in a while he thought he heard footsteps outside, despite the soundproofed walls and got tense. What was he supposed to say once he met his roommate? How was he going to behave without being his stupid, awkward self?? Time passed like molasses in a tube. He got a call from his sister and informed her that the long trip over had gone well. He called up his parents and as usual they had a hard time putting down the phone with him. They just kept talking and he didn’t want to interrupt so he just stood in his new room and spoke to them about what he thought of his new “hometown”, despite having only seen so little of the town itself.  
Instead, he gave them a detailed description of his new housing area. The long yet thin hallway with two doors, the first one a storage closet with the essentials (vacuum cleaner, a mop, and bucket etc) and the other door lead to a tiny, but functional bathroom. Further into the hallway and on the right he came across the kitchen, with a cheap table in the left corner. A large window by the table and a sort of hall about the size of the corridor in between the sink placed in front of fridge and freezer, and in the very end a tiny little pantry on the right.  
At the end of the hall there was an arch of sorts rather than a door that lead into the expansive living room. Virgil found it rather pointless but could appreciate the aesthetic choice. It made the apartment seem a bit bigger than it was.  
He further explained how and where the bedrooms were located and where his new room was. It was rather wide and had a single large window plus a balcony door that connected to the other room’s balcony.

Then it happened.  
The door to the apartment flew open and four loud voices rang out. Virgil had to end the call quickly because he didn’t want to be rude to his new roommate, but at the same time he was freaking out and wanted nothing more than to stay on the phone with his peers.  
"_Rip it off, Vee. Like a Band-Aid. You can do this_" he thought to himself as he took a few moments to breathe. He turned to open his door that was slightly ajar, only to have it open up before he even got the chance to touch the handle. He froze up. Paralyzed like when someone scares a goat.  
There was a little kid in front of him, maybe nine years old. The only thing Virgil truly registered with this kid was the far too large sunglasses almost slipping off his face.

“… Roman!!” a little kid turned around and shouted. He had a sort of manic grin on his face as he raced out of view. “Roman! I found your roomie!!”

Without really thinking Virgil walked out a few steps and peered into the living room and through the arch into the entry hall. There were two women both in their late forties rearranging the mess of boxes everywhere that looked up when the little boy zoomed by and into the kitchen. One smiled kindly at Virgil and gave him a little wave, whereas the other turned around to follow the path the boy had gone.  
And that’s when Virgil saw him. Tall, honey tan and broad-shouldered with auburn hair in fashionable waves, donning a spotless white T-shirt that stretched perfectly over his toned, muscular chest and—  
"_Oh, I am **so** gay_" Virgil gulped hard, eyes wide as he beheld the flawless human being before him.

The little boy was tugging the young man, Roman he presumed, by the arm and was easily picked up by the latter. He squealed like a piglet as Roman lifted him above his head and let him down on his shoulders with relative ease. Virgil’s breath caught when he met the hazel eyes gazing back at him and for just a moment it felt as though time stopped. Mostly because it actually became silent for a few seconds as the people in the apartment registered who Virgil must have been.

Shrugging off the sudden yet brief tension, Roman smiled brightly towards him and, while holding onto who Virgil assumed to be his little brother, came up closer with an extended arm.  
“Greetings! My name is Roman. I suppose that you are my new roommate?”

Virgil didn’t remember grasping his hand, but he was acutely aware of when the other gave him a firm handshake. He blinked at Roman, at a loss for words and only managed some unintelligible initial mumbles before clearing his throat awkwardly.  
“N-nice to meet you, I, uh…” He found himself slowly getting lost in the depths of those pearly swirls of hues. With a ring of amber around each of his pupils, blossoming into a golden halo and further expanding into a mesmerizing shade of emerald green, Roman further appeared to be of otherworldly in origin. Virgil had to tear his gaze away in order to find his voice anew. “You c-can call me Vee.”

“What’s the ‘v’ stand for?” quipped the boy atop of Roman’s shoulders as he gently wiggled his little feet. He grinned, now revealing a little tooth gap in his mouth and leaned further forward with his hand held out towards Virgil. “Hi! I’m Remy!”

Startled with the ease this family carried themselves with, Virgil took a moment to sort of reboot his brain cells and eventually went to shake hand with Remy, albeit still dumbfounded. He had to tilt his head back a lot to look at the boy, not only because Roman was tall (which he was) but also because Virgil himself is pretty short compared to… well, pretty much anyone.  
Remy didn’t seem to take note of the slow reaction and just kept smiling, pushing up his sunglasses and tilting his head, an expression of childish intrigue in his silver-blue eyes. However, similar to Roman, Remy too had an inner circle around his pupils of a different color, his being somewhat yellow in tone.

“Well?” he pushed further, both figuratively and literally as he was starting to throw Roman off balance. “What does ‘v’ stand for??” Then a spark of childhood brilliance came to life in those peculiar irises of his. “Ooh! Guessing game!” He shrieked, kicking his feet wildly at his own exclamation. Roman had to reach up with both arms and grab a hold of his oblivious brother in order to keep him from falling down. “Um, Victor? No? How about… Vernon? Oh! Or Vance?? Valentine? Uh, Vito? Vince?? Vann! Vincent?”

Virgil stepped back a few paces, overwhelmed with how unreserved this kid was. His discomfort went unnoticed by Remy if the lack of reaction was any indication.  
“Vander? Vladimir? Viktor with a K? Just Vlad? Vance— no wait, I guessed that one already…”  
Roman sent him an apologetic smile as he tried to signal his brother to tone down the interrogation with little success. The kid was on a verbal rampage of guessing with no end in sight.  
“Varden? Hm, Vail? Verney? What about Vidal? Vernen— wait, have I said that one??”

“I-it’s Virgil!!” he sputtered out, breath coming in short bursts and eyes wide open. “My name’s Virgil, alright?”

“Aww!” Remy pouted dramatically. “I was gonna say that too!” He huffed and crossed his arms, sunglasses falling down onto the bridge of his nose once again.  
One of the women came up to the boys with a noticeable gracious movement in her steps. She too had silver eyes and her hair a darker shade of chestnut brown rather than auburn. Her skin was more warm than tan if that made sense and she was rather tall, but then again, everyone seemed tall standing next to Virgil.  
The other woman came up as well, but kept her distance and smiled politely towards Virgil, as if she sensed his discomfort. Her hair was more reddish, but not quite the same tone as her son. However, she had the same hazel eyes and honey-like skin tone as well.  
Strands of gray ran through both women’s hair and they seemed to share faint wrinkles around their dimples.

“Pleasure to meet you, Virgil,” said the lady standing next to her sons as she extended an arm towards him. “I’m Emily Duke, Roman’s ma and this” she gestured to the woman behind her “is my wife, Abigail Prince”  
The way she spoke of her wife’s name was so fond and gentle that it put a smile on Virgil’s lips. One could simply hear the love in her voice and see it in her eyes. Mrs. Duke turned back her attention to Virgil shortly after, polite smile in place.  
“Say, what are you studying?”

Having not prepared to be asked these questions, or even that anyone would ask him any questions at all, Virgil stood stock still for a beat until he collected himself.  
“O-oh, I, um… I am an animator— or, well, I want to be one” he stumbled out. "_Wow, smooth. Real smooth, Vee._" He internally facepalmed at his social awkwardness as his fingers started tapping away in the familiar pattern of four, seven and eight.

“Where are you from?” Mrs. Duke asked him, leaning into his space a little more, seemingly unconsciously.

“I-I’m from Florida…”

“All the way from Florida??” Roman suddenly burst out, mouth agape. “Sweet baby Jesus, that has got to have been a long flight!”

“W-well, I—”

“What made you want to move all the way here?” Mrs. Duke wondered, her head tilting to the side.  
Meanwhile, Virgil felt his adrenaline start to run through him, kicking his pulse into high gear and leaving him feeling light-headed.  
That’s when Mrs. Prince stepped in, much to his relief.

“Let's not overwhelm the young man, dearies” Her voice was calm and soothing as she came up to them. She gently lifted down Remy from Roman’s shoulders, easily placed him on her hip and gave her wife a kiss on the cheek. She offered her older son a little pat on the cheek as she didn’t fully reach the top of his head.  
“I can only imagine how exhausted he must be after such a long trip. He needs rest and not an interrogation” She said the last word with a playful wink directed at Mrs. Duke and received an embarrassed blush in return. She chuckled fondly at them and turned her attention back to Virgil. “I’m terribly sorry about that, Virgil, our family is a naturally curious lot.”

“Oh, it’s nothing to apologize for, promise!” he hurriedly told them, trying to smile away his awkward tension. It didn’t work. “I’m just a bit tired after all of this traveling business and would like to go back to unpacking my things. I-if you’ll excuse me?”

“Why of course!” Roman exclaimed suddenly. “We wouldn’t want to intrude in any way! By all means, take the time you need. We can get to know each other on a later date.” He winked.  
Roman. Winked. At him.  
Virgil was grateful for his white foundation because there’s no other way he would’ve been able to hide the blush he felt burning high on his cheeks when the handsome man winked at him.  
He nodded stiffly at them, tried to offer a smile and sort of stumbled over his feet into his own room, his heart still pounding.


	2. Interactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title sums up this chapter pretty well I think.

Roman didn’t see much of Virgil until the semester started. The other young man proved to be very reclusive and could be extremely difficult to start a conversation with. Adding that upon how few classes they shared it turned into quite a challenge to befriend Virgil.

He had already spoken to his friends from his hometown just about an hour's drive away from his current residence about his problem. Roman could, admittedly, come off too strong when trying to interact with new people and despite how much it bruised his pride he knew he needed some blunt and honest advice.

“Why are you asking me? I don’t know the man” came the voice through the phone, deadpan and to the point.  
“Because you don’t sugar coat anything for me, Logan, and that’s the type of attitude I require as of now” Roman drawled as if it physically hurt him to admit that he needed his help. He was laying in bed, an arm slung over his eyes like the drama queen that he was, feigning agony.

“Alright, I’ll try to be of… assistance”  
"_Ooh, I can just **hear** that smug look on his face!_" Roman internally grumbled to himself, biting his lip.  
“You mentioned in passing that he is an animator?” Logan pondered aloud. “Artistic minds have a history of being connected to…” Roman waited as he heard paper cards shuffle on the other end. “… emotional constipation?”

“Ha!” he threw his head back, barking out a loud laugh. “Okay, that’s one way of putting it, specs” he chuckled, smiling to himself. Logan huffed in annoyance and a few more moments passed as he rearranged his note cards.

“… That being said, he might just be an introverted individual. Maybe even be frightened by social interactions.”  
“… Soooo I’m too extroverted for him and need to tone it down?” Roman asked, already planning out a few conversations in his head.  
“That or maybe he just dislikes your company” Logan replied, sounding smug as ever.  
“How dare you!?” Roman yelled into the phone, sitting up straight in bed. With a hand on his chest in a fashionable manner, he proclaimed, “I’ll have you know that I am a delight to be around! I am a sweet treat, you hear me!?”

“Of course you are” Logan deadpanned, typing on something on a computer. “Look, Roman, this has been a wonderful conversation and all, but I really need to get back to work.” More shuffling was heard. A sigh. “Normally the advice one should be given in these circumstances would be, A, be patient and observant and B, just be yourself. Knowing you, you cannot manage both at once. Good luck, Roman.”

“Logan, wait—”  
The call came to an end. Roman proceeded to take one of his many pillows and yell into it, letting his frustration leave him a little. To his surprise that was when he heard something on the other side of his door. Footsteps. Careful and light on the soles.  
“Hello?” he found himself calling out towards the door. The footsteps stopped. “… Virgil?”  
Roman got up from bed silently and opened his door, coming eye to eye with his normally unseen roommate. Okay, eye to eye might’ve been an exaggeration, it was more of eye to chest as Roman was much taller than Virgil. It was quite endearing and a little bit amusing to see the shorter man blush when he had to crane his neck back in order to make eye contact.  
“Why hello there!” Roman exclaimed enthusiastically. “Was it anything you wanted?”

“Um, I…” Virgil stammered and fidgeted with his sleeves nervously. Roman leaned on his doorway and tilted his head curiously, trying his best to wait patiently for Virgil to finish his sentence, but on the inside, he was buzzing with excitement because Virgil had come to him for once! To entertain himself he took note of the small details about the short man, beyond the makeup that he could tell he wore. There were the faintest signs of freckles underneath his foundation and he had a tiny little scar on the side of his face. But his eyes were enchantingly unique.  
They were dark and it would be easy to assume his eyes were black, but in the light coming from Roman’s room, he finally saw the threads of emerald green and sapphire blue weaving into each other. Almost turquoise, but not quite it was more akin to… a teal color.  
When Virgil turned down his gaze Roman was tempted to lift his chin up, just so he could further examine those eyes of his. Maybe if he did he would’ve figured out if Virgil used lenses.  
Before he made up his mind about what actions to take, Virgil handed him a pamphlet.  
“I-I was about to order some… some pizza and wondered if y-you’d like something” he near whispered, nibbling gingerly at his lip.  
Roman smiled, unbeknownst to Virgil, and accepted the pamphlet, flipping through it for options. There were things he usually tended to avoid for the sake of his diet. As an actor, he needed to stay in shape, but he also had a few allergies. Shrimp was pretty high on the list of ‘eat this and you’ll die!’.

“Do you have any allergies, Virgil?” he asked absently, reading the ingredients for an option titled ‘Stoner pie’ mostly for the sake of his own amusement.

“No, not really” he mumbled, fiddling with the zipper of his hoodie. “… Although, I prefer to not have pineapple on pizza…”

“Then we’re on the same page… hmm…” Roman suddenly scrunched up his nose in disgust. “What the— who in their right mind serves broccoli on pizza?!” he demanded, mostly to himself.

“That one place in ‘inside out’” Virgil offered meekly. The taller young man nearly dropped the pamphlet along with his jaw. Virgil, noticing the sudden silence, glanced up and made a little _eep_!’ noise when meeting Roman’s intense gaze.

Slowly his expression transformed into a wide grin and he looked about ready to start jumping in place.  
“How about a Disney movie night while simultaneously having a pizza night?”  
Okay, Roman knew he sounded over eccentric, but could anyone really blame him? His roommate was finally not dodging his presence and apparently knew small details about Disney movies that only fans would remember.

And to his great surprise,  
“Um, y-yeah! Sounds like a cool idea!” It might’ve sounded like he gasped for air while speaking, but Virgil smiled at him. A crooked, subtle and real smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"_Holy shit, that’s adorable_"   
“I’m ordering the pizza, you pick a movie!”

“Deal, princey!” Virgil gave him a two-finger salute as he rushed to his room for probably a computer and left Roman standing in his own doorway with a dumbstruck expression.

“… Princey…?”  
In a haze of sorts, the grin still bright in his mind, Roman picked up his phone and dialed the number for the pizzeria on the pamphlet, ordering a Stoner Pie.

“I’m telling you, Mulan is a better example of heroism than Aladdin” Virgil argued, a half-eaten slice in his hand as he reached for his soda. “Aladdin was cheating and lying and deceiving his way into the palace all the way until he became a legit prince whereas Mulan had the emperor bow down for her and was content with a little more freedom rather than becoming a princess! She wanted to be a soldier to protect her family and country, that was much nobler than Aladdin!”

“Oh c’mon! Al freed Genie, that has gotta count for something!” Roman protested. “I’ll admit, they had some plot holes in the story—”

“Some of which that were fixed in the live-action adaptation” Virgil admitted in passing by.

“— Exactly! And for the record—”

The movie was paused in the background as the two young men discussed topics between their favorite Disney movies. Favorite by default, since they both had more than one favorite.  
They jumped between topics so fast that Roman had no idea how they even ended up in some discussions half of the time, but he was so immersed that he hardly cared. Turned out that Virgil not only enjoyed the movies for their morals and overarching stories, but that it was Disney in itself that got him into animating and trying to create his own stories. Roman had tried to pry about his stories, but after he got red-faced and started mumbling he gave it a rest. He got him going again when he brought up Tim Burton, but eventually, they ended up back at Disney.

“What about The Lion King?” Roman demanded, over an hour into their discussion and having lost track of where they were going in the first place.  
“There’s never a wrong time to dress in drag—”  
“And do the **hula**!” they finished together. “Oooh!!”

“Okay, okay!” Roman hurriedly swallowed his last bite together with a mouthful of soda. Going against the rules of common-sense, he spoke his next words while still chowing down his food. “Uh, favorite musical! One, two, three—!”

“Hamilton!”  
“Heathers! Oh, my brother loves Hamilton! But I starred in a performance of Heathers myself” Roman added smugly. “Guess what character?”

“Um… JD?” Virgil offered meekly, then began to hum the tune of ‘freeze your brain’.

“Nope! Heather Chandler!” Roman announced proudly, one arm stretching out towards the ‘stars’ in an exaggerated fashion, flicking the tips of his hair in the process.

“Oh wow, they let you crossdress at your old school?” Virgil questioned, disbelief evident in his tone of voice.

“Only sometimes and only for theater” Roman stated, then rolled up his jeans. “They simply couldn’t hide these calves from the world!”

There were plenty of moments Roman thought he might’ve said the wrong thing and made Virgil feel awkward, but it was going surprisingly well. Maybe it was because it was late at night that their guards were down, but he was pleased about it. He couldn’t place his finger on it, but he felt it be important that he and Virgil got along.

Thankfully it didn’t end with that one night.

They ended up having movie nights once every week after that and Virgil was more open than he previously had been. They talked a lot more, had lunch together at school and (thank God) managed to figure out some sort of chore schedule for around the apartment for the time being. It was a work in progress.

Roman was eventually entrusted with more of Virgil’s background, which shouldn’t have made him feel as proud as it did, but either way, he swore to never tell another soul about anything that Virgil didn’t want others to know.  
Facts were that when Virge and his sister Valerie were younger they had lived in Germany, but when their parents had tragically passed they moved up to America where their grandfather had lived. When Virgil was eight years old and his sister thirteen their grandfather had passed due to old age and been placed into foster care. Soon before Virgil turned twelve years old a lovely couple in Florida had adopted the siblings.

It was partially because of the fortune that Virgil and his sister inherited that they were able to enroll in expensive schools without worrying too much about their economy. The other part of the reason was that their newer parents could afford it as well and were more than happy to help them out.

Virgil was able to learn more about Roman in the following months as well. He had yet another brother, Remus, and despite being brought into the world by two different mothers they were often referred to as twins as they were born within the same week of one another.  
While Roman didn’t like to talk about it, it was also stated that all three brothers came into being by the same donor. The donor in question had been a friend of their mothers and had fallen out of touch with them for around eight years as he had had issues of his own to deal with. He still helped them out financially for whatever reason.

Roman also had a job on the side, but couldn’t talk about it with Virgil due to confidential reasons. All he could tell him was that it was only small jobs here and there but nothing big enough for him to get permanently involved in.

It wasn’t too late in the evening when Roman came back home after one of his jobs where he found Virgil on the couch on a Skype call with what sounded like his parents.

“I’m telling you, hun, you should start putting out your animations on the internet!” a feminine voice came from the computer on the coffee table. “You’ve improved so much already, I promise people would love it!”

“Mooom…” Virgil groaned, hands over his face and blushing in embarrassment.

“She’s right, sport!” another voice quipped up. “I took the liberty to show our physiatrist some of the things from your portfolio and words cannot describe how impressed he was.”

“What the— dad!” Now Virgil was mortified at the prospect of someone else having seen his test works. “How could you?!”

“We’re only looking out for you, sweetie” his mom tried to explain. “You have so much potential and it would be a shame not to show the rest of the world.”

“Urgh!” Having his face mushed into a pillow, he didn’t even hear Roman approach his spot on the couch until he felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. “Jesus!”

“Nope, just me” Roman smirked at him, then leaned over him and waved at the screen. “Greetings! I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself before. Name’s Roman Prince.” He gave a little bow for the hell of it and Virgil’s mom chuckled.

“Hello on you too, Roman! Virgil has told us all about you.” At this point, Virgil’s face turned a whole new shade of red and he started making slicing motions over his neck rapidly. Getting the hint, his mom stopped whatever she was about to say at that moment and didn’t offer any further details. “My name is Dot, and this is my husband Larry.”

“I could’ve introduced myself just fine” grumbled the man next to her and crossed his arms in a playful manner. He then sent Virgil a knowing look and nodded meaningfully to his wife. “Oh, but would you look at the time!” he suddenly cried out. “You boys need to head off to bed if you’re going to be ready for school tomorrow!”

“… Dad, it’s Friday” Virgil tried to correct him, but now they were going.

“Oh my, you’re right, dearest!” his mom continued theatrically with the back of her hand to her forehead. “However shall we rest now, knowing we’ve deprived these poor souls of their precious sleep?”

“Quit it, you guys!”

While this was happening Roman was standing up, trying not to fall to the floor with how hard he was laughing.

“Goodnight, sweetie!” his mom, breaking character, blew him a kiss through the screen before turning off the call, leaving Virgil fuming with embarrassment.

“Good grief, dude” Roman coughed, trying to breathe properly. “Your peers are _amazing_!”

“Shut up, princey”


	3. The Juicy Stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The Juicy Stuff" is referring to two different parts of this chapter. Might be obvious, might not be, I just hope this entertains those who are reading.

It was in the middle of September when things began taking a turn towards stranger territory.

Roman came into the kitchen with an already finished glass of wine, sighing loudly and frustrated to himself, not taking notice of Virgil’s presence at first as he grumbled and cursed under his breath.

“Long day?” Virgil asked lightly, somehow managing to scare Roman into flinching and dropping his newly cleaned glass onto the floor. They both cringed at the sound as it shattered. “… sorry, dude”

“No, no, it’s… my fault” Roman sighed heavily and banged his forehead at the wooden counter. “To answer your question, yes. Very much so.”

“Can you talk about it?” Virgil questioned gingerly as he stood up to help clean up the mess.

“No, not really” came the defeated groan. Roman looked up, surprised to see his friend on the floor and picking up the larger pieces. “None of that, Virge. I made the mess so I’ll clean it up”

“Nah, you take a well-deserved rest and let me handle it” the short man insisted, ignoring Roman’s attempts at removing his person from the shattered glass. “Seriously, Princey, I got this.”

“I’m sure you do, but you already have to juggle so many projects that if any of us needs the rest then it’s undoubtedly you” argued Roman, trying to take the larger pieces of glass from Virgil, only to find he wouldn’t let go of it. “Virgil. Please let go.”

“Nah.”

“You’re going to hurt yourself. C’mon, we’re starting to sound like stereotypical Canadians—”  
That’s when a sudden, drawn-out hiss emerged from Virgil’s lips and his hand flinched away. Roman stopped all movement in an instant, becoming still as a statue.

“Ro? You alright?” Virgil nudged him gently with his uninjured hand. The look on his face made him worry, it was like he was ready to pass out. “Dude, you afraid of blood or something?”  
There was a small whimper coming from the other man as his eyes burned a hole into the floor.  
“Shit, sorry! I’ll, uh, get this cleaned up right away…!” with those parting words, Virgil rushed out of the kitchen and into the bathroom.

Cool water came out of the faucet and cleaned his wounded hand. He carefully placed the larger glass pieces at the edge of the sink, biting his lower lip to keep in the hisses of pain. The cut wasn’t that deep, but it was wide and throbbing all the way to his wrist. Tears stung at the back of his eyelids as he reached for the towel to wrap around his palm, cursing himself all the while.

“Are you alright, Virgil?” came Roman’s voice behind him. When Virgil turned around he noticed how Roman wouldn’t look at him and covered his mouth with the back of his clenched fist, holding onto the doorframe as if he would collapse any second. He was pale and sweating bullets, not to mention trembling like a leaf.

“Jeez Ro, are you sure you’re supposed to worry about me right now?” Virgil asked him, tentatively taking a step towards his friend, only to stop abruptly when Roman retracted into the hallway in response.

“Don’t! … come any closer, I don’t think I…” Roman stammered, one hand out towards the short man as if to stop him. “… just… go back to your room, I can clean it up…”

“… you look like you’re gonna pass out, no way am I letting you—”

“**Virgil**!” Roman barked at him, voice ricocheting on the bathroom walls. Instantaneously silencing the other. “I have… I can handle myself, this isn’t my first rodeo so to speak. Just… please go?” he pleaded, hand coming up to fix his hair. “I don’t need you to bleed on anything else…”

Not going to sugar coat it; that actually stung Virgil a bit. He looked down at his feet and nodded silently, shuffling out of the bathroom as he hugged his waist, shoulder brushing against Roman’s arm only barely, but enough to make him tense up.  
He couldn’t help himself as new tears began stinging at his eyes for a whole different reason. Anxiety collecting low in his gut, weighing him down as he thought of what he did wrong. He only wanted to help and instead managed to piss off his friend royally.  
"_Don’t cry, you big baby!_" he scolded himself when he closed the door to his room behind him, setting himself down on his bed and rubbing his face, trying to keep the tears at bay. "_It's no big deal! It’s not like you expected it to go any other way…_"

Roman could smell it before he could see it. The coppery tang filled the air around him and violently attacked his senses. He might’ve blacked out for a split second, he wasn’t entirely sure.  
"_What the hell??_"  
Now it wasn’t like he never had smelled blood before, his diet sort of required it, and it wasn’t that he’d never been around people when they had been bleeding before either, that had happened plenty of times.  
But this… this time it was different and he had no idea what it was. It wasn’t because he hadn’t been eating yet, he knew his normal reactions and this wasn’t it. The smell of Virgil’s blood wasn’t normal, it was something far more appealing to it, something just out of his reach, something he might just find out about if only he had a little taste… 

Oh no, oh god… his stomach is twisting up. This is very, very bad! Shit, shit, shit!!

Virgil’s voice was a distant mumble, like hearing voices below the surface.

"_Breathe through your mouth, keep your eyes low_" he repeated in his head like a mantra. It was certainly a new experience, saying these things to himself rather than to someone else.

He chanced a glance up and found himself looking at his roommate’s back, the filtered sound of running water somewhere in the bathroom. The scent lingering in the air was borderline intoxicating.

"_Wait… when did I…?_   
In the corner of his eye, he caught onto a slight movement. The smell grew stronger and made him stumble, lifting a hand to gesture to Virgil to keep his distance.  
"_Holy fuck, what do I do??_"  
Everything was spinning ever so slightly and the majority of his motor skills were used to keeping him standing upright. He felt his lips move, but wasn’t sure if he was speaking or not.  
"_Don’t come closer, don’t come closer, don’t come closer_"  
The edges of his vision were fading slowly. He shook his head in a vain attempt to stay alert. The exquisite aroma wafted closer to him.  
“**Virgil**!” he shrieked, panicking, not sure how much longer he could keep it together. He needed him to leave and now. But however would he form his words when his mouth felt as if it was stuffed full of wool?

A faint brush against his arm startled him into the here and now, his hand grasping the doorframe so tightly he felt the splinters dig into his palm. Then a soft click echoed in the apartment.  
It took hours, or maybe just seconds, for Roman’s clouded judgment to comprehend that Virgil had gone back to his room. He breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn’t long-lived.

On the sink he spotted the shards of glass, one of them tainted in the red odor that challenged the call of a siren’s song. It closed out all common sense, eradicated coherent thought altogether and lured him in like a moth to a flame.  
He didn’t realize he had gotten closer to it until he held the shard in his hand, closely examining it. Crimson smeared his fingertips.  
It was so alluring, so tempting to just take a little bit of it…  
His fingers came closer to his lips. He could feel his mouth water. Fangs extended from his upper jaw, preparing for a meal that he had previously neglected.

The blood-smeared fingers reached his lips. His breath hitched ever so slightly. His tongue came out, licking his stained lips.

“… Hooooleeee fuck” Roman rasped quietly, the sides of his vision fading rapidly as the flavor exploded in his mouth. This was a little bit of everything and yet none of that at all. Unique like clear, pure spring water, but spiked in flavors he didn’t know how to name. It danced on his tongue like acid pops, tickling his taste buds in a maddening type of way.  
He’d never tasted anything like it.

“He’s… definitely _not_ human”  
Roman had failed to realize, that when he went to put back the shard it was no longer covered in blood.  
And dear lord he was still craving more.

"_If only you hadn’t ‘forgotten’ to retrieve your refill when you were out you absolute imbecile!_" he scolded himself internally, banging his clenched fist to his forehead, utterly frustrated with himself. With a hand running through his hair he felt a weight of defeat settle in his stomach. “Oh god…”

With no other immediate options, he unlocked his phone and pressed call on a contact titled as ‘The Douche’.

After his phone call and having tried to drink an abundance of water in order to quench his thirst, with no success whatsoever, he stood outside of Virgil’s closed door with a hand in the air, unsure of what to say once he knocked.  
What if when the door opened he would lose it? Now that he had had a taste could he resist it, especially on a practically empty stomach? Would Virgil believe his half-assed excuse?  
Would he even open the door for him?

Roman was still dazed from lack of proper nutrition and could barely even form a sentence in his head, let alone bring himself together long enough to have a normal conversation. Did that hinder him?  
Not in the slightest.

Before he knew it he rapped his knuckles on the wood and held his breath. Shuffling feet were heard from the other side and the door opened a crack, revealing one of those mesmerizing eyes for Roman to behold.

The two young men stood in absolute silence for what felt like an eternity, just staring at each other. Virgil’s injured hand was held close to his chest and Roman found his focus being zeroed in on it entirely. This, in turn, is likely what caused further discomfort in Virgil as he ducked down his gaze and started nibbling on his lower lip.  
It made him wonder if Virgil knew. After all, it was completely possible for him to have lived this long without finding out. Some people lived their whole lives never knowing, only their descendants finding out later along the line.

“How’s the hand?” Roman heard himself ask, startling them both out of the quiet space they had shared.

“O-oh, um… its fine now” came the mumbled reply as hands twisted around the bandage around his palm.

More silence. It was tense, but not awkward per se. Roman noticed how his focus flickered to and from the hidden wound, but Virgil didn’t point it out.

“… I’m sorry” Virgil mumbled, nibbling on his lower lip nervously.

“Whatever do you mean?” Roman questioned, now confused and a little bit startled. It seemed as if his inquisitive nature caused further anxiety within Virgil.

“A-about before…” At this, Roman tilted his head, signaling that he didn’t understand whatever it was Virgil was going on about. His roommate cowered in on himself, shoulders hunching up. “You f-freaked out when I cut myself and I wouldn’t even have done so if I hadn’t s-startled you and then you got mad—”

“Hold that thought!” Roman interrupted, perhaps a bit too loudly as Virgil jumped at the sheer volume. “I didn’t get mad. No, I just…” Running his hand through his hair he let out a heavy sigh.  
That’s when the damn knocking started, infuriatingly followed with the buzzing of the bell, the rhythm clearly familiar to Virgil’s ears. Roman’s head snapped up to the left and stared at the front door, baffled beyond belief because "_there’s no way!_"

“Who’s that?” Virgil asked him, arching an eyebrow curiously and secretly eager for a change of topic.

Without being able to answer they both watched as the handle jiggled and the door was thrown open, presenting a young man in a black leather jacket with a dark green t-shirt underneath, donned in combat boots and ripped jeans with an excessive chain belt around his waist, holding a plastic baggie in one hand and a phone blaring out an unmistakable tune in the other.  
Not to mention the ugliest shaven mustache Virgil had ever seen, paired with wide and crazed eyes.

“Everyone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman; **Lafayette**!!” the man shouted along with the lyrics of ‘Guns and Ships’ as the door slammed into the wall with an echoing bang.

Virgil just stared mouth agape and turned to Roman who looked beyond horrified. He collected himself swiftly enough and interrupted the other before the second verse even began.

“Remus, **shut up**!!”


	4. Midnight Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to properly introduce my own take on how the second vampire twin behaves. Constructive criticism is very welcome :)

“Hoooleee mother of God!” Virgil shrieked out, gasping for air as he nearly fell to the floor in a laughing fit. “Th-that’s Remus?!”

“Ah, so you’ve spoken of me, brother?” Remus noted, obviously pleased with himself. He gave a remarkably gracious mock bow to the now fumingly red-faced Roman. “All respectable words I presume?”

“How’d you even—”

“Ma has a spare key in the house for emergencies” Remus explained dismissively, still with a manic grin on his face. Roman gave him a look that can only best be described as ‘flat’.

“I was about to ask you how you got here so fast?” he corrected with a tightlipped smile. “You live over an hour away from here, halfwit.”

“Oh, that!” Straightening his back up and walking up to the two of them, Virgil now having resorted to leaning on the door for support as he heaved for breath in between his bouts of uncontrollable laughter, Remus’ smile softened into a smug one. “I jumped into the car as soon as you called and may or may not have gone past the speed limit a few times.”

“W-wait, why’d you call him for?” Virgil gasped, wiping away a couple of tears that had collected in his eyes, smudging his foundation and revealing a few freckles. He couldn’t help himself, seeing Roman so flustered was probably the funniest thing ever.

“Oh, he was just cranky that he’d had a _looooong-ass_ day and on top of that missed our mothers’ signature dish back home. The poor little prince is homesick.”

“I am not—” Roman stopped himself short. He wanted to smack that exaggerated pout off of Remus’ face, but at the same time… “_… is he throwing me a bone here?? That’s innovative…_”

“Might want to put this in your mini-fridge before it goes bad,” Remus added, wiggling the plastic baggie in front of his brother.

Acutely aware of his previous hunger Roman didn’t even stop to chat as he snatched it and darted into his own room.

“You have a mini-fridge?!” Virgil questioned aloud, clearly puzzled at this revelation.

“We constantly fought over each other’s snacks when we lived together so mom got us separate mini-fridges to stop us from being at each other’s throats all the time.”

Roman heard all this as he trudged into his room and unlocked (yes he had a lock on it) his mini-fridge. While he typically disliked lying he condoned it in this instance, as it was nice to have his brother look out for him more than what was usual.

He was albeit worried about leaving Virgil alone with his not-twin twin because Remus could be a little… a lot forward, but he needed to get his fill before he again nearly snapped. It came as a pleasant surprise when he saw a small plastic container of his ma’s homemade chocolate chip cookies, next to a disappointingly small cardboard container of his dosage. He still didn't understand why Remus insisted on using those containers when they appeared so... innocent. Like a juice box. It just didn't sit right with him.  
Roman sighed but double-checked to see if he closed the door a final time before taking a deep breath. He felt it as his sharper teeth extended from their normal spot where they often laid hidden in plain sight and took a twisted sort of comfort in the familiar feeling. Without wasting any more time he bit down at the two foil circles in the cardboard box, annoyed as they were spaced far too close to each other for him to be able to drink comfortably. He ended up just puncturing new holes a bit wider apart and tipped the box back, letting the contents spill into his mouth, softly but noticeably stifling the unease in his stomach. The taste was lost in comparison to what he had tasted earlier and he found himself not enjoying it quite as much as he begrudgingly would’ve.

The box was emptied within a minute and after he spent a moment to keep it down he carefully disposed of it in his trash, rummaging around to leave it at the bottom of the garbage. He wiped his mouth swiftly and ran his tongue over his front teeth to make sure his fangs had really retreated into his upper jaw.  
Somewhat satisfied, Roman walked out of his room.

“— and _that’s_ how you dispose of the body!”

It was almost amusing to see the desperate look Virgil sent Roman the second he came out of the room, slowly inching further away from Remus. It just screamed ‘please help me!’.

Without as much as blinking Roman had grabbed his brother’s arm and was dragging him to the entry door.

“Oh, and don’t forget to put the acid in a tub, the metal can resist the flesh-eating toxins!”

Roman slammed the door closed behind the both of them, pulling him down the stairs with him. “I don’t even want to know” was the only thing he said as they entered into the cold night air. They were trudging up to the car when Remus finally broke out his serious voice.

“He’s not human, right?” The way he said it was so blunt and open that it would’ve startled Roman had he not expected those very words. “The scent that lingered in the air… _I_ was tempted to take a bite and I’m full!” When Roman didn’t respond Remus hurried his steps to stand in front of his brother. “Are you alright, Roman?”

“… yeah” he sighed, looking at the ground. “Yeah, I’m… fine.” A pause. “… thank you. For showing up at this hour I mean.”

“Don’t mention it. People like us need to stick up for each other, brother.” It was rare for them to ever be this sincere around one another and more than a little awkward. They usually spoke with such scorn and malcontent towards each other that they didn’t really know how else to interact. They had been stuck in this loop ever since… well since before everything started happening.  
“I apologize that I didn’t have more with me. I also need to fill up on my rations” Remus told him as he kicked the dirt under his boots once they reached the car. The silence was strenuous and tense, as neither brother knew what to say.

“… awkward twin hug?” Roman offered meekly, lifting his arms like a pair of noodles.

“Awkward twin hug.” They hugged. It was called awkward for a reason.

“… pat, pat!” They broke apart and Remus got into the car. No more words were said, but he waved at Roman as he drove out of the parking lot. Roman knew better than to ask him to drive carefully as it usually only prompted him to drive even more recklessly. Honestly, how Remus even got a license was beyond him.

Virgil wasn’t completely sure how to process the events that had just occurred. Between Roman freaking out over his cut hand and Remus’ unexpected appearance he had gone through a lot of different emotions.  
But that wasn’t all he had gotten hung up on. For one, Remus and Roman looked unbelievably alike, as to be expected as they had the same father, but this was on a whole different level. They practically had the same features but differ at their pigmentation, Remus’ hair being darker than Roman’s and his skin a little bit paler. He also shared his silver-blue eyes with Remy. Other than that they were as good as identical and he understood why they were referred to as twins.

He had been grateful for Remus interrupting the awkward moment he had had with Roman, but that gratitude was short-lived as the peculiar man decided to bring up some highly disturbing themes. Virgil could’ve lived his entire life not having to know how spiders reproduce or the 30-second theory or even how to erase evidence of a dead body!  
Remus seemed to be a fellow with a lot of randomly stored knowledge at his disposal and probably the sort of person you’d want on your team in a game of trivia, but dear God did he really need to spew out undesired topics to strangers??

When the… Princes? Dukes? Whatever, when the not-twin twins left Virgil had to take a breather because, damn those two were practically a glowing billboard reading ‘extrovert alert’! That’s when he realized that this was probably the best time to clean up the mess he caused earlier, but when he entered the bathroom to get rid of the bloodied glass shards he came across a situation that puzzled him greatly;  
There were no signs of blood. Like not in the slightest.

“… What?” he found himself saying. Gingerly he scooped up the few but sizable shards and inspected them. Had he dropped it in the sink? Had Roman cleaned them? Wait, no, Roman didn’t want to be anywhere near his blood. But then how?  
Could he have cleaned them and forgotten? It happened just a little while ago so it seemed unlikely that he would’ve forgotten, but it was still Virgil after all.

He twirled the shard he believed had been stuck in his palm. It seemed to be the correct one, as it had the form like a very misshapen, uneven four-pointed star with two edges broken in the middle. It was still moist, meaning it had been cleaned of any and all blood, but it didn’t feel like water exactly.  
Virgil, despite how perceptive he was, couldn’t figure out what might’ve happened. He had no frame of reference in this scenario. Usually when he didn’t know what to think he liked to pretend he was an investigator, like the ones he mostly read about through his childhood, but none of his detective novels ever brought up a subject quite like this one.

“… whatever” he muttered to himself as he disposed of the shards in the garbage. He was tired, schoolwork had been a pain and he was too old to play pretend like he was about to blow up a massive case. He would still think about it throughout the night and was more than likely going to keep him up. He had what his parents preferred to refer to as ‘mild ADD’ where he still could sit and listen but would drift away in his thoughts at random intervals about pointless things.  
He had a very distinct memory of when he was eleven years old and the only thing he could talk about when someone tried to start a conversation with him was ‘What if snakes had hands?’. In hindsight, it wasn’t that hard to see why he never got many friends. Once he got stuck on something his thoughts would return to it relentlessly.

He knew that this glass shard mystery would not leave his mind for quite a while, despite his best efforts.

When the door to the apartment opened up again Virgil was almost done cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. He heard Roman mutter something about reckless drivers a moment before he entered the kitchen.  
As Roman ran a hand through his hair, tousling it up in a way Virgil hadn’t seen before he gave the roommate a look that Virgil couldn’t quite describe. It was gentle yet intense… almost as if he were searching for something. Curious perhaps? Intrigued?

Before he got the chance to ask what the strange gaze was, Roman already opened up his mouth.  
“You didn’t have to clean up my mess,” he said softly as he stepped further inside, hunching down next to him to pick up a stray chip of glass.

What happened next made Virgil’s breath hitch.  
Roman cupped his bandaged hand and scooped out the few fragments of glass, transferring them from Virgil to himself and then, in a swift and almost casual manner, brought up his injured hand to his lips. It may not have been a kiss so to speak, more like a gentle press of his lips to the bandaged wound, as a form of apology, but it still caused Virgil’s pulse to pick up speed.

Virgil wasn’t about to deny that his roommate was attractive, on the contrary, he was thoroughly convinced that Roman was gorgeous enough to be on the cover of a moneymaking magazine. He was still puzzled over how this godlike man would actively seek out his company in between classes in the day and for watching movies in the evening.  
Truth be told, if Virgil weren’t so painstakingly aware of how unreachable Roman was to him, he might’ve entertained the thought of being asked out on a date by him. Not that he had a crush on him or anything. He simply enjoyed the idea of being romanced by someone, but as it stands he was perfectly content with them being good friends as it was.

That, however, did nothing to prevent the vivid blush that erupted high on his cheekbones when Roman’s lips first made contact with his covered palm. It was brief, over in possibly two seconds, but Roman kept holding his hand close to his mouth for a few beats following thereafter.  
When he let go Virgil felt as though Roman’s fingertips and lips had singed through the bandage and left a mark on his skin like a pleasant warm humming. It startled him so badly that he almost didn’t notice when Roman spoke to him again.

“I do apologize for how I acted earlier.” He sounded so downcast that it made Virgil’s heart clench. “Sometimes, especially on my bad days, there are certain things that just get under my skin. That’s no excuse, but I wanted to at least clear that up.”

It took a moment for Virgil to find his voice. He swallowed thickly,  
“H-hey, it’s alright, Princey. Everyone has their triggers.” Roman met his gaze and he couldn’t hold it so he opted to stare into the floor. “I don’t like sudden loud noises and you don’t like blood.”  
There was a short, sort of breathless laugh from Roman as he said this, but that was all he got as a response to his words.

They sat hunched on the floor for a while, looking for stray shards and, finding none, both got up. Roman threw the broken glass into the trash under the sink and stretched his arms high above his head with a big yawn. The yawn, in turn, caused Virgil to yawn.

“… Perhaps we should clock in for the night?” Roman suggested. “It’s getting very late.”

“It’s already tomorrow” Virgil chuckled to himself when he checked his phone. He yawned once more. “Well… Goodnight, Ro.” He trekked into his room, tossed off his hoodie and kicked off his jeans and as soon as he fell into the bed he was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone knows how to write in cursive on this site, could you please enlighten me? I want to edit some previous chapters using it and I can't figure out how for the life of me.


	5. Sweet Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know why I made this chapter, but I like it too much to not post it. I hope it's alright, even though it's short.

Dreams are peculiar. Sometimes they mean absolutely nothing and are only an assortment of impressions one gathers throughout their day. Other times they seem to mean a great deal and hint at ideas that your conscious mind would never think of.

Roman’s kind often took impressions from both sides while they slumbered and were often interpreted and experienced like a short novel with a few missing pages. It was safe to say that Roman had picked up on a lot of impressions lately, being equal parts conscious and subconscious.

_ In his dreams, he found himself in a small clearing in a forest. In his right hand he held onto a sword and in his left arm he carried a little child. The young girl with cinnamon-colored curls was weeping into his shoulder, hiccups interrupting her soft wails. Roman was gently shushing her as he passed through the clearing and found a slight dirt road hidden in the tall grass._

_The next thing he knew he had arrived at a quaint homestead at the edge of the forest. In the doorway stood a couple. They held their arms out and the girl whom Roman must’ve set down at some point rushed over to them. The girl’s mouth was smeared with red that dripped down her chin and over her throat, but this did not disturb Roman. He honestly had expected to see such a sight.  
Her pointed teeth had withdrawn into her upper jaw and her bloodshot eyes were crinkled with her bright smile as her parents embraced her. Roman smiled to himself, turning to leave. Another job well executed._

_This time he stood on a balcony, sipping on a tall glass of wine. Below him stretched the land out for miles and above the moon was glowing with a magnificent radiance, accompanied by the countless stars sprinkled about._  
That’s when a strong aroma filled the air around him. He stood tall and glanced around the balcony for the cause of this alluring scent, yet he knew he would not find it. It was always just out of reach.  
“I know you’re here,” the King said into the night air. When had he become a king? He was wearing a crown now and felt it weigh heavily upon him.  
At first, there was no answer. He stood there, wine glass in hand and gazed into the darkest corners for what felt like an eternity. Then, the softest gust of wind blew by his ear, a low voice speaking through it,  
“Then how come you cannot find me?”  
The King was unsure of how to respond. He wanted to turn around, but he knew that no one would be facing him if he did so. Always out of reach. He could only sense the presence of this being, but not pin it down. Like the sounds, the smells, it was unable to be touched or seen.  
“I do not know” he admitted, his head hung low in defeat.  
Silence.  
“… neither do I” whispered the wind. 

_Another night on the balcony. The King held his crown in his hands, waiting for something._  
For someone.  
“Beautiful night, is it not?”  
He couldn’t be helped. The King turned around towards the sound, heart falling as he yet again faced emptiness. 

_“What is it that you are?”_  
The wind whistled gently in his ears as he asked his question. The aroma was strong this evening, coming from right behind him. He felt the briefest graze on his shoulder as if someone had leaned in.  
“What do you mean?” asked the wind. The King laughed softly.  
“I’m not human, and neither are you. But I do not know what you are.”  
…  
“I’m afraid I don’t know either.” 

_Yet another evening, however this time he was in a different room, the door to the balcony wide open. The curtains flowed gently in the breeze. He spotted a shadow._  
“Hello, my friend” he greeted before the scent had even reached him.  
“Who are you really?” asked the wind before it disappeared into the night. 

_He stood before a mirror, his reflection altered from what he truly looked like. His reflection tilted its head.  
“Why do you need to know?” it asked him, echoing softly in the darkness around him. Then it was gone._

_The King was sat on the edge of his large mattress in his bedroom, looking contemplatively at his hands as he twisted them around, knuckles moving swiftly. He did not know what he was waiting for and yet he did._  
A gentle gust entered the room, fluttering the curtains. The King did not chance a glance up, not this time. Instead, he closed his eyes, heart hammering away inside his chest.  
The presence of his companion crept closer as the aroma grew stronger. The scent was alluring, wanting to draw him in, but at the same time, it invoked a sense of respect. Like a moth that knew not to go too close to the flame, but still wished to appreciate it’s warmth and wonder up close.  
He reached out an open hand, hoping for something. The wind came closer to him until it felt like it was a palm in his own hand. Warmth bloomed inside his chest and he couldn’t help his smile as it stretched across his lips.  
Almost within reach this time. If only he could see this mysterious being for what he was.  
The King was content with this for now, as he brought up the phantom hand to his lips, leaving the softest of kisses in his wake. 

Meanwhile, in Virgil’s room, the young man was having an equally cryptic dream, his instincts seemingly picking up on the potential danger that his mind refused to have realized.

_ Like many other dreams he was somewhere high up and difficult to reach. This time it was on the peak of a mountain, small clouds littered out somewhere beneath him as he gazed to the horizon. Great forests and rivers were the only things he could see for miles as the sun was setting, painting the sky in an array of glorious shades of the rainbow, sprinkled with the first few glittering vesper stars._  
A strong wind ruffled his fringe, but he did not feel the chill of the air around him. He was peaceful and at ease here, without a care in the world. He sat down at the edge of the mountain, gazing out with sharp eyes. The rivers sparkled like diamonds, the tall trees gently swaying in the winds. He was unafraid of the height he was at.  
It might’ve been hours he sat there, on top of everything, without the sun setting properly. It stayed just far away to keep the sky in its beautiful colors and letting a few stars out, painting the top of the mountain in a golden aura. 

_He wasn’t aware of how much time had passed, just laying down and resting on the peak of this mountain, bathing in the warm rays of the sun while the early evening winds grew cooler. Sometimes he would open his eyes and look at the stars, smiling to himself._

_The sun had finally set when he heard something from behind. He got up on his elbows and turned halfway around, the sense of serenity within him not yet leaving, but accompanied by newfound curiosity._  
Further away stood a man with a familiar face. He was just standing there and smiling, almost as if frozen in time.  
“Hey,” Virgil said, wracking his brain to place a name to this face. Finding nothing he sat up straighter, arching an eyebrow at the stranger. “… Have we met before?”  
No answer. They just stood there and stared each other down. Eventually, Virgil turned his back and once more looked out at the forest. The clouds below him had started to gather in thicker masses, obscuring the view. He sighed in disappointment and turned back around. His heart did a double-take.  
The stranger was now much closer, maybe six feet away from him. His eyes had not left him, nor had he made a single sound.  
“… Can I help you?” Virgil questioned cautiously, slowly tugging his legs to his chest. The world below was now completely covered by the thick clouds. The only light came from the stars above, casting the stranger in an almost eerie light.  
There was something in the corner of his lips, Virgil noticed, something dark slowly dripping to his chin. He didn’t like facing him but worried that if he looked away the man would be even closer than before. Virgil gulped, feeling the hairs on his arms stand on end.  
He rose to his feet, warily watching the strangely silent man. This got a vague reaction as the man’s eyes softened and he smiled gently. The starlight glinted dangerously over his face.  
Virgil stumbled back in surprise, losing his footing for a moment and felt his heart tumble down in his chest. 

_Sharp. That’s what he had seen. Very, very sharp teeth. _

Then he woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, full disclosure: I really have no idea what I'm doing. Last chapter was a bit of a mess due to my complete inability to properly write the many paragraphs in cursive and eventually, I just lost my patience while trying to fix it.  
And I'm also feeling like this chapter might be rushed, and I'm sorry if it's a mess, I myself feel like one at the moment. That being said (or written (whatever)) I hope this is at least somewhat enjoyable to read.

Neither man appeared to have taken too much interest in their dreams and continued living as they had previously been. The broken glass incident was behind them.  
Their movie nights turned into mostly just discussing the characters, the story, the animation, and the voice actors.  
The two generally just enjoyed spending time together, Roman taking time and effort to not push Virgil out of his comfort zone by making him leave the apartment for what was more than necessary.

They settled very easily into their living space and divided their household shores after some trial and error. That’s not to say that they never had their hiccups with this living arrangement, they certainly did at times.

As Virgil sat in his room, doodling for ideas to an animation assignment from one of his classes, he heard the faint thumping of music from the other side of the wall and sighed.  
“Princey!” he yelled, setting his pen down and leaning closer to their shared wall. No reaction whatsoever. “Hey!” Still nothing. “For fucks sake” he muttered as he got out of his chair and walked out to the hallway, snatching up a decorative pillow by the couch before heading to his roommate.  
He struggled with the door, having previously realized it had a tendency to get jammed if it were closed all the way, then pushed his shoulder into it with all his might. He wasn’t very strong.  
Nearly falling onto the floor, but managing to catch himself right in time, he lobbed the pillow through the room with a resounding, “Turn down the damn music!”

Then he froze. In Roman’s room, all the furniture had been pushed to the walls and a plastic mat had taken over the floor, printed with steps for some kind of enthralling dance. That, however, wasn’t the reason as to why Virgil stood in the doorway with a gaping mouth and flushed cheeks. No, that was all because of Roman and his—  
'_Abs. He’s got abs._'  
Virgil gulped and averted his gaze to the floor as quickly as he possibly could, hand over his eyes for good measure. His face felt as if it had caught fire with how hotly his cheeks were burning. The music turned down to a more bearable volume.

“Can I help you, Virge?” Roman wondered, sounding out of breath. Virgil chanced a look at him and ‘_eep_’ed when finding that Roman stood up straight in the center of his room, hand running through his messy hair and sweat collecting on his honey tanned skin, his beautiful deep-set hazel eyes focused entirely on him.  
“Uh, your m-music, it was, um…” how the hell was he supposed to speak up like a normal human being when Roman was right there in front of him, looking smoking hot?!

“Oh, right!” Roman paused his music with the remote in his hand, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “My apologies, I entirely forgot!”

“no worries” came the small squeak from the much shorter man. He had to look at the mat because whenever he didn’t his eyes were automatically drawn to Roman’s shirtless chest. '_change topic, change topic, change topic!_' his mind was yelling at him. “W-what are you up to?”  
Internal slap to the face. '_Real smooth, Vee, reeeaaal smooth_'

Roman sighed and shook his head to himself, looking at the dance mat with a contemplating expression. He did the thing where he holds a half clenched fist to his mouth, thumb below his lower lip.  
“Well, I am _trying_ to learn the moves for the backup dancers during this routine we’re currently learning” he muttered to himself and almost absentmindedly stepped back up on the mat, attempting a few steps again. He met Virgil’s timid stare, eyes tired due to worn out adrenaline. He gestured lamely with his arms. “Any input, perhaps?” he asked meekly, voice weak.

For some reason, seeing Roman so defeated caused Virgil’s nerves to be swept away and he took a more confident footstep into the room.  
“Hm… is it in a pair or single?” he quizzed seeing multiple routines on the mat, but unable to tell if they were connected.  
“One-by-one” Roman answered as he took a seat on the edge of his bed, which was currently blocking the balcony door and took a swig of water from his red and white bottle.

'_Okay_' Virgil thought, '_that might be a problem. Roman learns better when interacting with other people…_' Which was true, on the off chance that they both received similar tasks, Roman seemed far more capable of showing someone else how it’s done first, then being able to figure it out for himself—

…  
Light-bulb.

“Hey, Princey?” Virgil called out, trying not to make this too obvious. Receiving a hum of recognition in response had him smiling. If they had any luck, this might work. He turned around to face Roman, cheeks still a tint of red. “Could you teach me some of this?”

'_Abort mission, abort!_' his mind seemed to be yelling at him when he felt Roman so close to him, holding his breath and trying to focus on literally anything else. No matter how alien the close contact felt, it was proving to be of help to Roman as he now had someone else to teach instead of only teaching himself. His feet moved with ease over the mat when showing the routine to Virgil.

Roman was in the middle of demonstrating something when he stopped dead in his tracks. His head snapped up and stared at Virgil. It was hard to tell, but he looked both affronted and impressed.

“… Did... you just…?” he gawked, one of those mesmerizing eyes narrowing. Virgil shrugged and nodded good-naturally.  
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” He was smirking.

This man was going to be the death of him. Of that Roman was certain. The moment when he saw that mischievous glint in those adorably wide almond eyes, wrinkled at the edges with mirth, he felt as if something finally clicked within him.

He denied it at first, of course he did, blaming it on the alluring aroma he had been exposed to the other day. He was trying to figure out if perhaps Virgil could have the blood of a siren or even a fae, thinking that might be the cause of his desire to be close to him. Roman hadn’t even been aware of his own fascination with the man until he got a whiff of that incredible scent and realized with a start that Virgil wasn’t even fully human. Now, Virgil couldn’t have known this or otherwise, he would’ve figured Roman out long ago.  
It was rather terrifying to think that this allure wasn’t even intentional and what he might’ve been capable of if he’d known about it and used it actively. But something told Roman that if Virgil knew about this, he would’ve been apologizing every fifth minute.

It was difficult at times, when his cravings grew stronger, to keep away from him. He wouldn’t bite him, as that would be immoral and would undoubtedly scare the poor man away, but Roman couldn’t simply keep his distance. When Virgil was closer to him he wanted to savor the brief moments.

He realized he was being creepy, but he would dare anyone of his kind to have just a taste of that blood and then stay away indefinitely.  
Not really though, he would hate to put Virgil in more jeopardy. It was sometimes hard to distinguish if he acted on the notion that Virgil was his friend, or if it was his instincts alone.

Some might find it strange, why someone, something like him would want to keep such a remarkable taste unspoiled. It was an easy concept really, a way to convince even the worst of them to not kill others. In the past, his kind would think of people like apple trees. It would be stupid to cut the tree down to get to the apples rather than being patient and letting the tree live.

Of course Roman wouldn’t think of people that way, he wasn’t a monster!

'_My head is running around in circles_' he groaned as he dragged a hand down his face. '_This is driving me crazy!_'

He was currently backstage in the theater hall, nimbly sipping on his water bottle. It was the end of the day and he was sure he’d flunked the routine, but to be fair so had a handful of others.  
After he and Remus had gotten around to stocking up on their supply Roman had taken to mix a little bit of blood in with his normal drinks more often. His water was just a little bit more metallic than what was to be expected, but not enough for someone to realize if any unsuspecting actor accidentally took a sip from it.  
And he truly **despised** it.  
He never wanted this lifestyle for himself, yet a set of stupid genes had made it a possibility and now there was no turning back. He hated himself for enjoying the taste of blood, for craving it, for craving people! He loathed his sharp teeth and how the sun hurt his eyes even on a cloudy day! He detested the way he felt sick from eating garlic when he used to love garlic bread! It wasn’t fair and no amount of genetic benefits could make up for all he the benefits that he had lost in the process! He didn’t want anything that this **disease** entailed!

Remus had had it easier when adapting, hell, he even welcomed it on some level. Roman hated to admit it, but this fact made him somewhat jealous of his brother. He was even jealous of Virgil to some degree, for having the luxury of knowing nothing about the trials a humanoid had to go through.  
It just wasn’t fair…

Roman’s stomach churned uncomfortably. He knew it wasn’t safe to feed as little as he did, but he couldn’t bring himself to take more. The guilt was eating him alive for every drop he managed to swallow so he had pretty much always been stuck in this case of denying himself his own food, practically starving himself unless absolutely necessary and it was taking a toll on him.

“Hey, you okay there, Prince?” One of the techies on set came up to him, brows knitted in concern.

“Oh, hey… Camden was it?” It was a bit awkward that he wasn’t sure about this guy’s name when he was well aware of all the work he put into the performances they were practicing on.

“That’s my name” Cam gave a lopsided grin despite the worried look in his eyes, moving his headphones to rest around his neck. “But seriously, dude, are you alright? You don’t look so good…”

Roman hung his head lightly, sighing to himself.  
“I…” He decided to say _fuck it_ to himself, mid-sentence. “Yeah, I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately.”  
In his back pocket, he felt his phone buzz but chose to ignore it for the time being.

Camden offered him a sympathetic smile and jabbed a thumb towards the stage behind him.  
“I could inform Mrs. Torres that you felt a bit sick if you want to leave,” he told him in an almost nonchalant manner, followed by a shrug. Roman kind of just stared at the man, maybe two years older than himself, in surprise. Seeming to be reading his thoughts, Camden chuckled. “I’ve been studying under Mrs. Torres for quite some time, she usually trusts my judgment.” All of a sudden Cam’s eyes grew firm and somewhat pleading. “So please don’t be one of those jerk students who take advantage of that trust.”

“Me? Never!” Roman scoffed, considerably insulted at the prospect of being seen in such a light. His phone buzzed again. '_Who the hell?'_'

“Nothing personal, dude, just trying to double-check is all” Camden reassured, raising both his hands up in a sort of surrendering motion. That calmed Roman down a little. He couldn’t remember ever being so easily agitated. Maybe he really was getting sick. Could that possibly be the reason he’d been so needy for being around Virgil?  
He decided that, yes, that was the reason.

“Okay… sorry” he apologized, not bringing himself to meet Camden’s eyes as he rested his head in a hand. “… maybe I really should go home?”

“Probably” Cam agreed and patted him on a shoulder. “Don’t worry about anything, I’ve got it covered. You just focus on getting better, alright?”

“Okay, thanks Cam—” His phone buzzed once more. His eye twitched in frustration. Cam chuckled.  
“You better answer that, Prince,” he said, jokingly poking him with an elbow before heading away, presumably to wherever Mrs. Torres currently were. Another buzz.

“Okay, who the hell?!” he growled to himself, whipping out his phone from his back pocket and unlocked it.

… Roman’s blood ran cold. His heart ceased beating for a moment. His mouth went dry. Knees weak.

There was a picture on his phone. An arm holding a plastic bag with dark red liquid inside. An IV bag.  
The picture was from Virgil.

"... Fuck."


	7. Bloody prank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just spent a week with a fever. It sucked. Hopefully, your week has been better than mine. Enjoy this, admittedly, rushed chapter.
> 
> Oh and remember that "Mentions of Twilight" tag? Yeah, it's showing up here.

Virgil was terrified. That much was obvious.

He was on the floor of Roman’s room, hyperventilating, throat sore from the scream he had let out when he discovered what was inside his roommate’s mini-fridge.

He’d gotten off class early and decided to go in on Subway for a quick lunch/dinner type of meal. While there he also got something for Roman, hoping to lift his spirits once he got home after the rehearsal that he had worried so much about.  
When he got home he wanted to leave the sandwich in Roman’s fridge to sort of surprise him and the key to his fridge’s lock was on top of the fridge itself so he didn’t think much of it.

That was until he spotted the blood bag at the very back of the mini-fridge.

And he screamed.

Virgil’s thoughts and heart were racing, falling back onto the carpet covering the floor. He glanced back inside the fridge and felt his throat closing up once he again noticed the IV bag with crimson liquid.

“This can’t be real, this isn’t real, _that is not real!_” he repeated within the confines of his mind. There had to be an explanation. There had to be.  
Roman hated blood, he was ready to pass out on the mere sight of it, so logically speaking it couldn’t be real b…

Virgil’s breathing began to slow down as he gathered his thoughts. He still had no idea what it was about, but knowing that Roman couldn’t stand being near blood made him sure that this thing wasn’t actually blood. It calmed his nerves just a bit.

But what was it then? He edged closer to the fridge and hesitantly picked up the bag. It appeared very authentic, as did its contents. Virgil was still fidgety after his previous jump scare and couldn’t think of many reasons as to why Roman would have this. Maybe as a means of exposure therapy? Or a Halloween decoration? Or perhaps stowed away to later be used as a prank?  
That’s when it occurred to him that _he_ was likely the intended victim of said prank. Feeling a tad bit annoyed, he brought up his phone, typed in a sentence and sent it to Roman, ‘**what the hell, princey?!**’.  
Then for the hell of it, he added ‘**you scared the crap outa me!**’. When he received no response he snapped a picture of the ‘blood’ bag and sent it over along with the caption ‘**why do you even have this??**’.

Still no response.

Feeling sort of fed up, he shoved the subway sandwich into the mini-fridge, next to the ‘blood’ bag and slammed it closed. His adrenaline was still through the roof and fidgeted around with his phone nervously as it wore off. He checked his screen. It said ‘seen’ underneath the picture. Virgil waited for the little bubble that indicated an incoming message, but it didn’t show. His fingers hovered over the keyboard on the screen before he asked the question currently in priority in his mind.

‘**who did you want to prank with this thing???**’

… prank?

Roman almost collapsed with relief once he understood the heavily appreciated confusion on Virgil’s part. He began laughing uncontrollably, near hysterically, unable to quite believe his pure luck.  
While he was walking away from the theater building he texted back a laughing-crying emoji, trying to improvise the best he could, trying to play into what Virgil believed the situation to be.

He only had to wait for a few moments before he got a message back. It was a recording. He pressed play.  
‘Fuck! You!’  
Roman actually laughed out loud, more genuinely as he was trekking his way home. He could almost see Virgil’s red face in front of him and it made him crack up.

While he walked he had time to think about his excuse.

It was around 25 minutes later when Roman came back to the apartment, much to Virgil’s surprise.  
“I thought you had classes up to 17:00?” he said in a puzzled tone, checking the clock on the wall to make sure that, yup, it was indeed 15:47. Then he noticed the sweat dripping down Roman’s forehead and neck accompanied by the tremble in his limbs and concern washed over him. “Woah, you alright there, princey? You don’t look too good, which for you can’t be easy.”

It took Virgil a moment to realize what he just said and started cussing up a storm within the confines of his brain. That was a stupid thing to admit out loud, but at the same time it was honest he tried to convince himself.

“Yeah, I’ve not been feeling like my fabulous self lately and this kind fellow in class talked to the teacher so I had permission to go home” explained Roman while he took off his coat and hung it on the rack. The corner of his mouth twitched up in a crooked smile and his eyes twinkled with amusement. He sent Virgil a playful grin that totally did not make the short man blush. Nope, not at all.  
“Now…” he started, his voice dropping an octave, beautiful eyes narrowing. His demeanor had Virgil’s heart pounding within seconds. “Why were you in my fridge?” Aaaaaand it’s gone.

Virgil huffed and crossed his arms, shoulders hunching up as he turned his eyes to the floor. “Well, I… I had been to Subway to get us both some easy dinner… after all those times you went to get take out for us I kinda… I felt like returning the favor” he admitted reluctantly, kicking the soles of his feet into the ground. Then he cleared his throat and pulled his hands free. “You didn’t even answer me before!” he exclaimed exasperatedly, hands making rapid, small movements in the air. “Why do you have that thing? It scared the crap out of me!”  
An embarrassed blush overtook his cheeks as Roman laughed whole-heartedly at the mention of the prank bag. Virgil brought his arms around himself as a hug.

“It’s a prop for one of the plays we’re having” Roman snickered and readjusted his hair with a swift move of his hand. “Or I planned on using it at least. Saw it in a store when out of town and thought it could be of use for the rest of the drama kids. I don’t exactly know what’s in it, but in case it can go bad I have it in the fridge. _My_ fridge” he gestured to himself pointedly at this, then turned his finger so he pointed at Virgil, “to avoid startling _you_ this way in the first place.”

He was still chuckling as Virgil hid his face behind his hands, feeling somewhat mortified. He managed to do something Roman tried to avoid without even realizing it, how embarrassing was that??

“… that makes sense I guess…” his voice came out muffled. “your sandwich is in your fridge, by the way…”

He chanced a glance at Roman and if possible blushed even more at the openly fond expression directed at him. His breath hitched.  
'_God damn it! Can’t he just stop being so fucking attractive for one moment?!_' Virgil prayed silently.

Roman patted him gently on the shoulder when he walked to his room to retrieve the sandwich and Virgil thought he’d have a moment to breathe. He hadn’t thought someone could be so striking that it almost physically hurt until he got to know Roman. To Virgil, it was very bothersome to live with such an incredibly gorgeous and happy nice guy. He didn’t want to get a crush on him, because they were really good friends, not to mention Roman was far out of his league.  
He proceeded to jump out of his skin when he heard a loud cry come out from Roman’s room, promptly followed up with the aforementioned man coming out of said room with an overjoyed expression, holding his subway sandwich like the monkey did to cub Simba in the Lion King.

“You got me the chicken and bacon?!” he exclaimed, tired eyes shining with happiness. “How’d you even know my favorite??”

“O-oh, you mentioned it n-not too long ago…” stammered Virgil, taken aback by the drastically positive increase in his friend’s mood.

“But I say a lot of things all the time!” Roman was beaming at him as if he had just fixed his entire week by getting him the sub. “Not even my friends back home or my family remembers those details! I could kiss you right now!”

'_Ooh-kay! Back to blushing!_'

Roman stretched out his arms, about to give Virgil a big ol’ bear hug when he caught himself.  
“R-right, you don’t like hugs” he recalled, rubbing the back of his neck with a free hand sheepishly.

Virgil, feeling like his heart might jump out of his chest at any second decided that '_Screw it, I only live once_' and shrugged lightly.  
“I suppose one time wouldn’t hurt” he muttered, trying to smile up to his friend.  
This instantly brought a big toothy grin from Roman as he came up with his arms raised once again.  
“But!” Virgil interrupted abruptly, hand coming up to make sure Roman didn’t get too close for comfort yet. “Take a shower first! You’re sweating so much that your skin sparkles like an extra in Twilight!”

“… Twilight??” Roman repeated, flabbergast. His mouth was agape and arms fell slightly. “You’ve watched the Twilight movies?”

“Uuuhhhmmm” At this point, Virgil sounded like a broken computer to his own ears. He tried to gauge Roman’s reaction and create an appropriate answer around that. Roman didn’t seem to be all too perturbed at the mention of the popular series, but he did look like a giant question mark at the mere idea that Virgil had seen them.  
“I… I didn’t exactly see them…” He admitted hesitantly, fiddling with his fingers and trying to perceive any snide behavior from Roman or some other retort. He did see what looked like realization strike him, even as the sweat was collecting at his brow.

“… You have the books, don’t you?” His voice was surprisingly quiet for Roman and his eyes widened considerably.

“Don’t judge!” Virgil was quick to snap, feeling very defensive all of a sudden. He couldn’t stand it when people frowned down upon something that had fanned the flames of his artistic drive back to life.

Quickly Roman raised his arms up, one hand still holding onto his sandwich, while the other was palm up in a surrender type of motion. His expression had dropped to one of bafflement and his head had reared back in surprise.  
“I’m not judging!” was the fast response. He then frowned quizzically, followed by, “But… why Twilight of all things?”

Virgil hated being put on the spot. He could feel his hands getting clammy with cold sweat, yet his skin was so hot it felt as though he was burning up. He couldn’t look Roman in the eyes, but he couldn’t flat out lie either.  
“I-I…” he tried to start, however falling short on proper words too quick. He cleared his throat awkwardly, mouth going dry. “The fandom helped me through some rough times, alright?” came the mumble as he desperately forced memories into the back of his mind.  
He couldn’t bear to look at Roman’s face as the embarrassment was eating him alive. It was quiet for a long time, the silence getting thicker by the minute until finally, his roommate broke it.

“I’ll eat this delicious sandwich, take a shower and then I’ll get that hug from you, okay?” he tried to sound playful, but must’ve noticed the strong shift in Virgil, because he sounded truly worried about him. “… how about you pick out a movie while you’re at it?” he suggested, a soft smile evident in his tone of voice. “I’ll even let you pick that gaudy and unrealistic romance if you so desire.”

'_Okay, now I_ know _he’s throwing shade at me!_' Virgil glared at his friend, but there was no real anger behind it. “Of course it’s unrealistic, it’s about vampires” he stated and narrowly missed the flash of… presumably, irritation that crossed Roman’s expression. He had appeared almost bitter for a slight second, but it was gone as fast as it had arrived, if it even had happened at all.

“Touché, hot topic,” he said with a shrug and began unwrapping his sub sandwich with growing glee. Virgil raised an eyebrow at that.

“Aw, you think I’m hot?” he sing-sang teasingly, although secretly he kind of really wanted to know. Virgil knew he wasn’t anywhere near as flawless in appearance as his friend, but he wouldn’t call himself ugly by any means. If anything he was mediocre in terms of looks, with just a pinch of emo and goth elements.

Roman, with a mouthful of food, froze up as a darker shade of red spread across his cheeks. He chewed, swallowed and cleared his throat, trying to look dignified with the corner of his lips covered in BBQ sauce.  
“I am trying out new nicknames, get off my back!” He took a larger bite of sandwich with a grumpy huff. Virgil felt a little defeated, as he was now fairly certain Roman didn’t think of him that way. “… and maybe not hot but you do look… cute in a… scrawny type of way.”

At this point, Virgil was surprised his eyeballs hadn’t popped out of his sockets yet. He wasn’t sure what to say, he wasn’t even sure if he’d just hallucinated that sentence! “Wait, is it still hallucinate if its just sound??” he found himself questioning. When he looked back up at his roommate Roman had shoved another large bite into his mouth and was chewing intensely, still a vivid shade of red over his cheeks.  
Hazel eyes met dark oceanic.

“Well, you’re calling me a nickname, I wanted to give you one as well!” Roman defended himself, his voice almost cracking as he went up a few octaves. “And your name doesn’t give me much to work with…”

“Adler means eagle in German.”

Virgil blinked, having not realized he had spoken up until a few moments later. Roman mimicked his blank blinking.

“Oh right. I forgot you’re from Germany” Roman chuckled.

They looked at each other for a while, small smiles upon their faces. Then it became awkward as neither said anything.

Roman went to the kitchen without another word and was not far from banging his head against a wall at his social clumsiness. He absolutely hated it when a conversation just dropped all of a sudden and he got stuck being so awkward, a position he wasn’t familiar with.

Later, after he finished the sub and had pondered on a nickname in the shower, he watched a TV show with Virgil instead of a movie, but couldn’t pay much attention to the screen.  
His mind was now debating on nicknames, no matter how stupid it was. He was oftentimes so proud of his creative mind, but now he drew a blank. Roman wanted to blame it on whatever aura was around Virgil’s true nature, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was something else.

Before they went to bed, Roman checked in that hug he’d been promised (and might’ve held on a bit too long) and finally a nickname was on the tip of his tongue.

“Goodnight, starling” he whispered right as they parted, reveling in the reaction he received from his dark-haired friend as he let go from the embrace. It was probably his mind, but he could’ve sworn he felt Virgil’s heart skip a beat and took immense satisfaction in that regard.


	8. Oh no

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS.  
I have no idea where I was going with this when I started writing, and I'll admit I want to get to the point where the sexy vampire dates his cute roommate. I have a couple of chapters in stock that I'm trying to fix up a bit but if anyone reading this has any creative ideas I could use for future chapters I would love to know. The time it takes to upload will probably be taking longer now as well. I hope that's okay, but this was the best way I could think of to move the story along.

It was the very next weekend. Roman was out partying with a bunch of theater kids on some club and Virgil was back in the apartment, working on his animations and avoiding social confrontation. He had forgotten what time it was while working and the hours ticked by rapidly.

A sharp series of knocks startled him out of the zone, followed by the insistent ringing of the doorbell. What he saw through the peephole made his stomach drop and he all but yanked the door open with as much force as his scrawny arms allowed.

“Holy hell— what happened??” he demanded as he came face to face with a stranger. Leaning his form on said stranger was Roman, arm around their shoulders for support. He had a bruise forming on the side of his head and a cut on his lip.

“I don’t know, but he fell!” the stranger replied hurriedly. “I guess I’m at the right address? Could you help me out, ‘cause he is fuckin’ heavy!”

“Y-yeah, of course!” Virgil shook his head out of his stupor and went up to Roman’s other side. Normally being this close to someone would make him uncomfortable, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t as he allowed the stranger inside and guided them towards his friend’s room.  
Virgil placed a plastic trash can by the side of Roman’s bed as the stranger helped him get settled. Worry was thrumming through his veins as he took a look at him. Roman was almost grimacing, one arm clutching his stomach and the other around his head. He looked to be in a lot of pain. Above that, he was paler and shaking.  
Without much thought, Virgil pulled the duvet over his trembling form as the stranger was trying to be helpful and untying Roman’s shoes.

“So, um… what’s your name?” he asked awkwardly.

“Oh! I’m Joan, nice to meet you!” they held out a hand for Virgil, tugging a shoe off with the other. He arched an eyebrow. “Well… not the nicest way to meet you, but could’ve been a worse scenario” they corrected themselves.

“Fair enough. I’m Virgil” he responded as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind the two of them to give Roman some privacy. Joan’s eyes lit up.

“Ooooh!” they gushed as if being smacked in the face by the age of enlightenment. Their eyes were rather mischievous as they looked Virgil up and down, almost as if they were evaluating him. “So you’re the guy he talked about!”

His head practically snapped up to attention, his treacherous heart fluttering at the idea that Roman spoke of him. A part of him supplemented that Roman might’ve been complaining about him, but something about Joan’s reaction told him it hadn’t been anything bad. 

“Wha—”

“Don’t tell him I said anything” Joan lowered their voice at this part and pulled Virgil closer by the shoulder. “But he thinks that you’re, and I’m quoting, infuriatingly appealing” They nudged Virgil’s speechless form with their elbow. “And I can see now that he wasn’t exaggerating, like damn boi, you gonna crush his heart at some point!”  
Joan flashed him a wolfish grin and patted his shoulder before heading on over to the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get going back to my own place. Take care of him will ya? ‘Cause he obviously cares about you a whole fucking lot.”

Virgil stood in the hallway for what might’ve been a solid fifteen minutes after Joan left, just staring in front of himself, dumbstruck by what just had transpired.  
His sleep-deprived brain couldn’t properly process Joan’s words so all he could do was go back to his room in a daze. He absentmindedly set an alarm for the morning so he could help out the undoubtedly wasted self-proclaimed Prince once he came to.

He was fumbling around in the dark, his stomach and skull screaming at him. The world was spinning and he felt cold and weak, his limbs trembling from the effort of keeping him upright. He found a grip on the white box in his room and went desperately scrabbling for the key to the lock.  
Shaking hands pried open the lock and the door to the fridge, the harsh light blinding him and causing him to fall back. His elbows scraped on the carpet and he hissed between his sharp teeth. His mouth was watering. He needed to eat. Good lord, he had to eat. The cramps were killing him slowly.

His hands clamped around the plastic bag in the fridge and yanked it out. His throat tightened. He didn’t want it. But at the same time it was the only thing he desired at the moment.

Without thinking he sank his fangs into the plastic, trying to ignore the taste as he forced it down his throat. Tried as he might, he couldn’t help it. He downright moaned as the red liquid tingled his taste buds.  
With urgent need and growing greed, he tried to swallow it all. The holes in the plastic ripped. The red liquid dripped down his fingers. The intoxicating smell filled all of his senses. The wet coldness reached his elbows.

The bag was empty. Guilty hatred washed over him like a bucket of iced water. The previously amazing taste turned sour and bitter. His insides twisted and churned dramatically. He clamped a hand over his bloodied mouth, trying to force it all to stay down.  
It felt like he was choking. He couldn’t breathe. Panic blinded him. He began to cough violently and just like that his stomach was emptied again, leaving an acidic and putrid smell and taste behind.

Virgil awoke to the sounds of pained gasps from the other room and tried to sit up in a hazed state. He blinked himself awake blearily and went over to the wall connecting their rooms, putting an ear to it. Carefully he knocked.  
“Roman?” he tried softly, worried about his friend. Something didn’t feel right and that feeling solidified like a heavy rock in his gut. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was 05:39. “Roman, what’s wrong?” The only response he received was a choked sob and a whimper.

Now he didn’t feel nearly as tired. In fact he felt alert, like a man on a mission. He exited his room and headed into the hallway, stopping by the kitchen to quickly grab a painkiller and a glass of water.

Standing outside of Roman’s door he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He knocked gently.  
“Hey, Roman? I… I’m coming in” he called out as he turned the handle.

“W-wait, no d-don’t!” came a jagged and breathless cough from the other side.

The door opened just a little bit when the smell wafted towards Virgil. His face contorted and he gagged at the vileness of it all.  
Then the door slowly creaked open fully and he caught the bitter and metallic scent that made his stomach drop.

Roman’s silhouette on the floor, shrouded in darkness. His eyes twinkled faintly with tears and full of fear. Tears ran down his cheeks and made clear tracks around vomit and blood-stained lips.


	9. One thing at a time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Truly? I have no idea what this is.

Silence…

That was the only thing either of them could register for the longest time. It was as if time had actually stopped existing and it was only the two of them staring at each other left in the world.

Coherency of thought vanished with the wind.

In the distance, there were cars passing by and other people waking up or going to sleep, the sunlight slowly coming and painting the sky brighter indigo, but in that room, it felt as though all of that was a different world.

Virgil felt his joints going stiff and shuffled on his feet with the slightest movement. This triggered a chain reaction as Roman released a panic-induced wail and frantically scrambled over to the corner of the wall, curling in on himself into a tight ball.  
“D-don’t come a-any c-cl-closer!” he shrieked with a tear-choked voice, muffled behind his knees. His breathing was bordering on hyperventilating.

Roman was quivering like an animal expecting to be punished.

Virgil almost fell on his ass in shock but managed to only stumble and somehow not even dropping the glass of water still in his hand. That’s when he realized something entirely new.  
He wasn’t afraid.  
By all accounts, he should have been terrified, scared shit-less and be screaming. His friend is panicking in a puddle of blood and vomit, arms and mouth covered in red as he is wailing in the corner.  
But he wasn’t scared. It was almost like white noise; his anxiety and fear grew so intense that he no longer could comprehend it and it just passed him unnoticed.

Clearly Roman hadn’t realized this yet as he was still pleading for his life.  
“_Does he… does he think I’m going to kill him?_” Virgil thought, heart clenching with sadness. He took a step closer, but this only caused Roman to let out a scream.

That’s when he broke down into cries and ugly sobbing, words catching in his throat, fingers digging into his scalp and tugging at his auburn hair. In the mess of strung together syllables, Virgil managed to make out pleas and a single phrase being repeated.  
‘I don’t wanna die’

“You’re not going to die, Roman!” Virgil interrupted firmly, stomping his foot for emphasis. His own eyes stung with the promise of tears from seeing his friend like this. It truly hurt his heart. “Why do you think you’re going to die?” he added much softer as he got down on the same level and approached cautiously.

Agonizingly slowly Roman started lifting his head, his shoulders still shaking and hiccupping with tears on his every quick breath. Those hazel eyes peered over his knees and seemed to be searching for something in Virgil’s own. Then, even slower he began to take deeper breaths, the tears slowing their fall.  
“Y-you… don’t ha-hate me?” he murmured in disbelief.

Virgil, still not caught up entirely with what was going on, shook his head no. Roman lifted his head gingerly the rest of the way, his lower lip trembling.

When Virgil saw those sharp teeth was when he finally began connecting the dots. The blood, the unadulterated fear of his own well-being and those pointed ends in his mouth lead to one thing.  
But he still couldn’t bring himself to even think it just yet. What if he got it wrong? He had to be getting it wrong!

But Roman was looking at him with those deep-set glossy and hopeful eyes and he couldn’t find it in himself to feel threatened.  
Instead, he took a deep breath through his mouth and offered a weak smile that was supposed to be comforting.  
“I could never hate you,” he said in a low voice and it was nothing but the truth. It was honestly the only thing he was completely sure of at that moment.

Roman gaped at him, eyes going wide and a wavering smile forming. A single, breathless laugh escaped him.

Then he promptly passed out.

“Roman!”

He woke up.  
That was the first surprise. That he got to wake up to see another day.

The second surprise was that he felt clean. He was in his own bed and wore different clothes than the night before. The room smelt of citrusy cleaning supplies combined with fresh air. His mouth tasted minty.

When he tried to sit up however he felt a pang of sharp pain through his stomach and let out an equally sharp groan. He felt hollow and weak. Some tears that hadn’t spilled during the night slipped out as he laid there, unable to move. It was lonely. He didn’t want to be alone.

Would Virgil come if he called? Did he even want to see him? Was he even still in the apartment?

That last thought hit him so hard that more tears came out in a little flood. He felt the residue of last night’s fear creeping in. The idea of losing Virgil because of what he was hurt so terribly much that he whined out a silent sob.

“Vi-irgil..!” he rasped out painfully, his throat raw. He coughed, more tears spilling out.

Relief like he’d never known swept over him when he heard a familiar voice call back to him.  
“Princey!”

Footsteps thumped their way from the kitchen and in but a moment the dark-haired man was leaning in the doorway, looking out of breath. His mesmerizing oceanic eyes were tired, hastily applied make-up over his eye bags, but he was smiling at Roman, which felt like a miracle in its own right.

Before he knew it his short friend had raced over to the bedside and enveloped him in a soul-crushing embrace. All he could do was lift a hand and try to reciprocate in his weakened state. Why Virgil would even want to be this close to him he couldn’t wrap his head around, but he wasn’t about to complain. This could be the last time he ever got to be this close to his emo friend.

A strained breath reached his ears, and Virgil’s arms tightened around him.  
“… Virge?” Roman mumbled in a low voice.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again” Virgil hissed in his ear, breath hitching. Roman felt something warm and wet slide down the side of his head and realized with a start that Virgil was crying.

They were just clinging to each other like that for a long time, trying to understand what this meant for both of them from now on.  
Roman assumed this meant that he had to move away and possibly change his surname. Maybe he even had to tell his family that they had to leave, or at the very least his brother. What this could mean for Virgil, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to think about it. He breathed in the shorter man’s scent. Various cleaning products concealed his natural aroma of an autumn breeze over the ocean.

They sighed as they parted, Virgil taking a seat at the edge of the bed, holding onto Roman’s hand. His thumb was rubbing circles on the knuckles in a soothing fashion.

“… feel like addressing the elephant in the room yet?” Virgil asked quietly, looking at nothing but their connected hands. Their grasp on one another tightened somewhat.

“… to be perfectly honest” Roman croaked, trying to find a balance between being able to be heard and not straining himself. “I’ve never wanted to even acknowledge the elephant myself.”

“Is it… what I think it is?” Virgil mumbled. Roman didn’t answer. He couldn’t make himself. “Bats, blood, sharp teeth and all that?” he pushed.

“… yeah” It hurt. So fucking much. More tears collected in his eyes and slipped down the sides of his face.

“So…” He trailed off, watching Roman intently now. “… what now? I mean, I’m obviously not supposed to know any of this.” He sighed and brushed his hair back with a hand. “Any mind erasing ordeal? Taking me out? Turning me?”

In spite of everything, Roman chuckled hoarsely. Virgil gave him an incredulous look.

“Sorry, it’s just… first of all, nothing I know of can erase any mind” Roman stated with a soft smile, seeing Virgil relax somewhat. “Secondly, I’d rather kill myself than letting you die” The raven-haired man blushed a vibrant red. “And thirdly, the… the turning process isn’t like that. Only a few people can be turned” he mumbled with a frown. “And I would never do that to anyone else…”

There was a practically pregnant pause and Roman could tell Virgil was brimming with questions. It was all about waiting for it.

“So how old are you?”

“Nineteen years old.”

“How long have you been—”

“Five months” Roman deadpanned. He rolled his eyes affectionately. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not immortal.”

“Oh.” Virgil bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Then… how long have you been… been a…” They gulped. “… how did it happen?”

“I was fourteen and… I don’t like to talk about it.”

“I see”

There was yet another period of long silence, the air thick with tension. Roman’s mind was achingly empty, similar to his guts. What was he even supposed to say at this moment? What could he possibly say that wouldn’t destroy the situation further? All he could do was to close his eyes and await the onslaught of questions and accusations. He knew Virgil had said he couldn’t hate him, but he found that hard to believe.  
Imagine his shock when he felt a hand on his forehead and opened his eyes wide to find himself face to face with a very concerned Virgil. In the light from the outside world that framed around his features, he appeared almost angelic.

“What even happened to you?” he demanded, nibbling on his lower lip nervously. “You collapsed on me…”

Before Roman could even think of an excuse a loud grumble echoed from within his stomach, his insides insisting on requiring proper sustenance. He hissed in pain, wincing and feeling bullets of sweat dripping down his forehead. Virgil’s hand disappeared from him so fast he might’ve been burned. Roman wanted to whine at the loss of contact and would’ve chased it if he had been capable of movement.

“O-oh!” came Virgil’s startled gasp further away from him. Roman flushed in shame, frustrated tears escaping him as he turned his head on the side, away from his friend. “You’re… oh, damn…”

Roman whined pathetically and used whatever strength he had to attempt to roll over on his side, back facing the frozen young man. A hand on his shoulder tried to stop him, but facts were that Virgil wasn’t nearly strong enough to maneuver Roman’s much larger body whilst only using one arm.

“Hey, hey!” he tried to intercept, patting the nearest spot he could reach. “No need for that! Just tell me how I can help.”

At this point, Roman’s mind was bordering on crashing like a computer.

“Excuse me?” he blurted out, questioning if he’d heard correctly.

“Y’know, ‘cause I’m pretty sure you’re malnourished?” Virgil clarified. “I couldn’t find any other of those bags so what do I need to do to get them?”

“You can’t—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, you clearly can’t get up by yourself so I’ll have to do it, whether you like it or not!”

“Virge, that’s not what I—”

“Or do you need to call someone? In that case I think your phone has gained a charge, it was dead when you arrived”

“Virgil!” That loud interruption caused Roman a heavy coughing fit that had his friend slapping his back to help him get his breath back. “It’s a prescription!” he gasped between coughs, slowly gaining his bearings back again. “I… I have to get it myself… no one else is allowed to get my dosage”

“Wait…” Virgil sounded like he was just starting to see the bigger picture. “You get it like it’s medicine??”

“… yes?”

“From where?!”

“Most clinics has it in stock for… people like me…”

“Okay, but… do you happen to know anyone who would be able to lend you some of theirs?”

“Oh no!” Roman slapped away the comforting hand on his side with a disgruntled huff. “If anyone finds out how bad this got then I’ll never hear the end of it”

He was pretty sure Virgil was fuming with frustration at this point. And he was correct.

The short man came around the bed to face his roommate once more and placed a firm hand on his side to prevent him from moving away. His eyes were steely and determined, but his expression held a certain reassurance. Like the calm before the storm.

“Roman Prince.” That’s when he knew he was in for it. “I know firsthand what it’s like to not want to eat, but I also know what it’s going to be like if you keep this up. Now, I’ll look past the obvious shellshock of a bomb you dropped on me last night in favor of making sure you’re getting better and unless you want me calling up everyone in your contacts to ask them how to take care of a fucking sick vampire, you are going to cooperate with me.” His hand squeezed firmly. “**Understood**?”

There was no room for argument there.

Roman sensed the aura around Virgil shift as if revealing a sliver of his true nature. There was something powerful in it, something that encouraged Roman to obey. It felt like fear and safety all at once. It echoed with the essence of authority.

He felt himself nod.


	10. Nom nom?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is having an internal freakout and Roman is starving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been stuck for quite some time on this chapter, so I decided to just get it out. Hopefully, it isn't too weird and is at least enjoyable to read.

Oh my god, holy crap, fucking shit, what the hell—

Roman’s a vampire.

An actual, to god, vampire. Creature of the night, master at seduction, drinking blood kind of vampire.

Those thoughts ran through Virgil’s mind when he left the room after the vampire’s confession.

Vampire, a goddamn vampire.

His adrenaline was running wild with the revelation, unsure if it was due to giddy joy or pure fear. On one hand, he was relieved that the blood around Roman hadn’t been his own and that he wasn’t hurt. On the other hand…  
“_What if he eats me?!_”

Then, a smaller voice in the back of his mind,  
“_That would be a new kind of hot_”

Virgil went as far as to actually slapping himself to get his bearings together. Why did he leave the room again?  
Right, he needed some toast. No, _Roman_ needed the toast. He was sick and could barely move and Virgil had to leave the room to freak out on his lonesome.

It was the middle of the day and Virgil was downright exhausted, having been busy cleaning the room as well as the vampire he had had to move in order to help clean up the awful mess.

When he returned to the room later with toasts and a glass of water Roman had almost passed out again. He had a deep frown set like stone on his face and wouldn’t meet Virgil’s gaze no matter what the short man tried. Fresh tear tracks were visible on his face.  
He didn’t touch the food. It raised a lot of concerns.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Virgil prodded gingerly, ripping off the edge of a toast and handing it close to Roman.

Roman buried his face further into the pillow.

Maybe he would’ve thought that it was a vampire thing, but the thing was that he had seen Roman eat plenty of times before and in copious amounts. It worried him that he refused the food now.

“Something wrong with it?” he asked as gently as he could, not wanting to push his friend into another panic attack like he’d seen the night before.  
A muffled voice that he couldn’t decipher came from the pillow.  
“Huh?”

“I said… I can’t eat it” Roman huffed, a clear sense of defeat radiating from him.

“How come?” Virgil only wanted to know how to help, but he was in very unknown waters at the time. Roman was powerful, distant and fragile all at once.

New tears filled the tracks along his cheeks and it made Virgil’s heart ache.

“M… my body can’t digest it… not without b…” His breath hitched painfully as he curled in on himself, hands gripping the pillowcase tightly.

He felt his heart drop like a rock. Roman seemed to be so tormented at the prospect of blood. Now that he thought about it, he’d never even heard Roman say the word ‘vampire’ before. The one time Virgil had said it when he mentioned the Twilight Saga, his red-haired friend pretty much grimaced.

Did… did Roman hate vampires?

“Should I call someone that can help?” he offered, hoping that Roman would throw him a bone.

“No!”

Virgil jumped in shock, staring wide-eyed as Roman sobbed into the pillow, writhing in agony.

“I c-can’t keep being such a bother to e-everyone! They can’t dro-op everything because I can’t take care o-of myself!” He was spiraling; Virgil could spot the signs from a mile away. He hurried forward, but didn’t know what to do. Would Roman want him close? Would he want to be alone? Virgil settled for holding his hand in both of his, doing his best to soothe him. “I can’t let them down even more! I’m supposed to be able to handle this now!” His larger hand was almost crushing the human’s own, however it was bearable.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’ll be fine” Virgil hushed him, letting go with one hand in favor of rubbing his back in comforting circles. Roman held onto his hand tightly. “I’m here, it’s alright, Ro.”

“I-I just can’t disa-appoint them a-again…!”

“You won’t.”

“H-how can you be s-so sure…?”

“Because you’re you. Nothing you do is half-assed. You do your best with everything that the world throws at you.”

Where were these things coming from? How did the words come so easily?  
Either way, it seemed to calm Roman down enough so that he was breathing more evenly.

Virgil’s chest was thrumming, but he wasn’t feeling afraid. He’d always had this sort of ability that no matter how anxious he got, if someone else got more anxious he would suddenly be able to sweep his own troubling thoughts away.  
And right now Roman needed him. His own mess of a brain could wait.

There was a gentle tug on his hand, silently asking him to come closer. Asking for a hug.

Here came an inner conflict; he wanted to offer Roman consolation, but the thought of being that close to him now that he knew Roman could most likely easily kill him was unnerving, to say the least.  
The vampire was obviously hungry (thirsty?) and by being close Virgil might as well be telling him “Here! Have a bite!”. But at the same time, shouldn’t he be trying to help him? Roman was his friend, his very best friend if he didn’t count his sister, so, by all means, he should be at least offering… right?

The idea of being bit by something that could and was meant to kill you was causing his heartbeat to pick up speed with rapidly growing fear and yet, at the same time… it made him blush brightly.  
Preposterous as the idea might sound, it seemed almost intimate to show such trust to someone else. He would in a sense be trusting Roman with his life.

The question was; did he trust him? Trust him enough to come closer when he knew he was hungry?

…

Yes.

Virgil couldn’t possibly understand why at the time, but he did truly trust Roman to not bite him without consent.

So when a soft whine of pain accompanied the weak tug on his hand he acquiesced, getting up onto the bed to embrace his vampire friend. Roman’s tears stained his own cheek. Virgil would’ve been lying if he said that his heart didn’t stop for a moment when Roman’s face came to rest in the crook of his neck. If the vampire noticed the tension washing over him, then he didn’t say anything. He was only holding onto Virgil like a lifeline, with trembling arms.

His luscious auburn hair was tickling Virgil’s cheek until the short man began to squirm.  
“H-hey, Ro?” he whispered, afraid to break the silence. Their moment was like watching birds settle in a field, knowing one loud sound or sudden movement would scare them away. He wriggled further away. “Could we move? Your hair tickles.”

Without much of a warning, Roman let gravity do the work and dragged Virgil onto his side so that they were both laying in the twin-sized bed, Virgil partially draped over his friend’s much larger frame.  
If he had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to the rich red that erupted all over his face when comprehending the… difficult position.

With a start, he noted that Roman’s arms were almost twice as wide as his own. His breath got caught in his throat.

“_Think of something else, think of something else, think of—_”

“Does it hurt?”

Time for a mental slap. He was internally cringing at his verbal clumsiness. Of course it hurts you bimbo!

“It does… a lot” Roman groaned, holding Virgil closer to his chest as if he was some sort of oversized teddy bear.

“What will happen if you don’t eat?” He was afraid of the answer, but he felt like he had to know. If Roman couldn’t digest food without blood… it did not sound like anything good could come out of that.

The heavy silence that followed spoke volumes.

He couldn’t take it. What else could he do? He had to at least try!  
Virgil lifted his head to look at Roman, seeing his face contorted in pain only solidified his next words.  
“You could eat from me.”

Those five words.  
Holy shit.

His stomach grumbled in agreement, like when he saw a hot waiter arrive with his food. He felt his fangs try to extend from their normal hiding spot in his upper jaw and bit his lip in an attempt to keep them back.

“Roman?”

Shit, Virgil was still waiting for his reply, his gorgeous eyes looking deep into his, hopeful and troubled. Good **God** he was tempting. It was grating on Roman’s self-control.

“Fuck, you can’t just say that” he hissed, grimacing as another sharp pang of empty pain shot through his gut.

“W-what did I do? Is it taboo?” Virgil frowned deeply. Roman didn’t like that. He wanted his friend to smile more. He had a beautiful smile.

“No, nothing like that… but” he sighed, tilting his head back. He couldn’t look Virgil in the eyes for his next words. “… you… you smell **so good**, I-I don’t…” He had heard the growl in his voice and felt Virgil tense up in his arms. He had to take as deep of a breath as he could. “… I don’t want to hurt you… because I get greedy…”

“Roman? Roman, look at me.”  
There it was again, that authority radiating from his tiny friend. He found himself doing as told and wondered for the umpteenth time what the hell was hiding under the protective aura around Virgil.

“You said that not everyone can get turned?” Virgil demanded, voice leveled and calm, gaze unyielding like the ocean in a storm. Roman nodded mutely. “And I assume by the bag in your fridge that you don’t need too large amounts?” Another nod, more hesitant this time. Virgil got even closer, leaning on his elbows. “Would you ever hurt me on purpose?”

“Of course not!” Roman protested sharply, rather hurt by the indirect accusation.

“Then I trust you.” He said it so matter-of-factly as if it ended the argument. To him it probably did, because his next question was, “Where do you bite?”

Had Roman been drinking any water he would’ve done that classic spit take like in cartoons.

“Virgil—” he tried to hurriedly explain.

“Oh, no. Don’t you fight me on this, Prince! I’m out of options and you’re not helping—”

“I’ve never done it before!”

The air around them seemed to freeze, the confession hanging in the air between the two. Virgil’s mouth hung open, his doe eyes larger than ever. Roman held his breath, embarrassed at having to say it.

“… so… I’d be your first?” He backpedaled quickly. “O-oh, okay, _wow_, that sounded wrong!”

Roman let out a throaty laugh, smiling in spite of the pain.

“At least ask me out first” he joked with a trademark smirk. Virgil hid his face behind his hands, mortified and whining.

“You know what I meant!” he mumbled, his ears red. Roman tried to swat his hands away from his face to look him in the eye, his heart pounding.

Was he really about to accept this? His instincts roared at him to go ahead whereas his pride berated him for even considering it. Without him realizing, he had gotten closer to Virgil’s throat and it was only the startled gasp that made him snap out of it.

“… I… I can’t…” he whined, resting his head on his friend’s shoulder. “You smell so, so good and I just…” Tears of frustration slipped out. “I don’t _want_ to like it and I don’t _like_ wanting it…”

“And that’s fine” Virgil’s voice was by his ear now and he shuddered. “You can think that you’re doing it for me if it helps. Do it for me so that I don’t have to see you in pain.”

How was this anxious bean being so calm?! How did he know just what to say!?

His breath hitched when Virgil brought his neck closer to his mouth, pulling his shirt down enough to expose his collarbone. This close Roman could almost smell the blood in his veins. It made him even dizzier with need and want. He whimpered. His fangs were already out, even the ones in his lower jaw. This man before him was going to be the death of him he just knew it.

“It’s fine, Ro. I’ll be okay.” He promised softly, the nickname making him melt.

Roman pressed his closed lips to Virgil’s throat, trying to figure out where it would be most beneficial for both of them, but his focus was drawn to where he felt the pulse under the skin. The scent was at its strongest there. He took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry” he whispered breathlessly, mouth opening only to clamp down around the juncture where Virgil’s neck began to meet his shoulder.

His mouth was flooded with a taste so intense that he nearly blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swedish traditions are weird. We celebrate Christmas on the 24th. I was going to post an additional chapter on Christmas but I am unsure if any of you would like to have it on the 24th or the 25th.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This uh... might get steamy and or weird for some of you, at least in the beginning.  
Merry Christmas! Hope this short chapter is a suitable gift from me to you! I love you guys for checking out this story and sticking around to read more!

Virgil wished he had known where his courage had come from because he certainly needed more of it now. He had offered and he was relieved that Roman finally had caved but when those sharp canines broke the soft flesh of his neck he nearly panicked.

Lips closed around the wound swiftly almost like some sort of second nature and a dizzy spell took hold when he felt the blood being drawn out of his body. In his ear, he heard a deep ravenous moan leave Roman and felt arms wrap around his middle, almost as if to keep him from fleeing. That should’ve worried him, but instead, he felt safe and secure. He felt protected and warm.

Roman’s mouth was practically massaging his throat, encouraging more of his blood to come forth. It was a strangely slow process. Methodical almost. Deliberate. The steady beat of his pulse and the careful yet deep gulps from Roman felt almost soothing after a few moments.

An arm around his waist began to travel up his back, leisurely but firm across his spine. It made him shudder and a content sigh escaped him.

Jesus, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt this calm. Virgil faintly considered the possibility of Roman’s fangs containing some sort of drug-ish toxin, but the thoughts were brushed aside as a hand reached the top of his head and gently begun to knead his scalp.

Damn, he might actually fall asleep like this. His eyelids had dropped a long time ago and he was enjoying the warmth of Roman’s body seeping into his own.

There was a shift and he was laying on his side. Another shift and he was on his back on the mattress, Roman hovering above him. Their legs intertwined, a warm hand stroking the side of his waist through his shirt and the other tenderly showing attention to his scalp. The mouth on his throat didn’t cease its ministrations.

Virgil lost track of time. He was lulling in and out of consciousness. It was peaceful. He might actually want to get used to this.

The sounds leaving Roman stirred a warm feeling in his gut as he fed in peace and Virgil absentmindedly began to hum, arms rising to hug his vampire. This felt good. It felt right.  
He played with a stray lock of red hair. He kept drifting in and out of sleep. He wished he could live in this feeling forever.

Gradually Roman took less and less, not working too hard for the blood. Eventually, he let go with what Virgil believed felt like a goodbye kiss, the idea in itself making him smile groggily.

Roman began lifting himself above and away from Virgil, causing the short man to whine softly and reach after him.

Their eyes met. Virgil couldn’t read his expression. All he could understand was how gorgeous Roman looked above him. His fangs and lips stained red and those wonderful hazel eyes gazing down so intently at him. He reached for him with his hands, his skin so very pale in comparison to Roman, and smiled. He guided him back down to him. Their lips collided softly.

He let go carefully, his thumb on Roman’s cheek brushing over a smudge of his blood affectionately. Then he fell asleep.

When he awoke it was evening, the world dark outside, yet the dark didn’t bother him. Instead, it felt tranquil as the sky was painted with shades of blues and indigo, stars scattered about.  
His bones felt like jelly, the good kind. His muscles were lax rather than tense, which was a nice change of pace. But something wasn’t right.

“Ro?” he called out with some difficulty. Only then did he notice the bandage wrapped around his throat. He tried to sit up, but his head did a tumble.

“You should lay down,” a voice said, right by his feet. He looked over and saw Roman sitting on the floor by the edge of the bed. His facial features were unreadable in the dark, his hair had fallen in a way that obscured one side of his face. Without thinking, Virgil did as asked. “How are you fairing?”

A soft sigh, a small smile.

“Can’t remember the last time I felt this at peace” he answered truthfully. He tilted his head over, watching the silhouette. “What about you? How are you doing?”

“Honestly, I’m quite shaken” Roman responded as he released a shuddering breath. There was a short pause. “But the pain has subsided, thanks to you.” He gestured to the plate Virgil had brought in earlier in the day and noted that the toast had been eaten.

“I’m glad.” There was an inkling in the back of his mind that made him take a closer look at Roman in the dark. His shoulders were tensed and slumped at once, head hanging low. “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me” he mumbled, getting up on his elbows.

The sharp shallow laugh startled him, making his heart skip a beat.

“Oh, there are a lot of things I’m not telling you,” Roman said with a sound that was suspiciously sniffle-like. “Maybe some other time if…” he drifted off and turned his head more so that it was impossible for Virgil to see him.

“If what?” he pressed, anxious to know what was going on in his head.

“… if you still want me around.”

At first, Virgil was speechless. Was Roman serious? The flamboyant man had a tendency to be overly dramatic, but this was worryingly sincere.

“I understand if you never want to see me again. I’m literally a monster who just drank your blood—” his breath hitched dangerously, but he only cleared his throat before continuing. “A-and you probably want a normal life away from this and forget this ever happened so—”

“**Roman.**”  
Yikes, where _did_ that tone come from??  
“I want you to repeat after me. I am not a monster.”

Roman sat still, unmoving. Virgil narrowed his eyes at the shadow.

“I. Am not. A monster,” he said once more.

Cautiously Roman turned to face him. His face still shrouded in darkness but his eyes glittering.  
“I-I’m… not a monster…” he said, unsure of himself.

“Good.”

“… Can I say I’m a freak?”

“I swear to god I will slap you with a baguette!” Virgil threatened with an excessive pout.

This turned into a brief staring contest that both lost as they burst into a fit of laughter. This was all so absurd, so unreal. Here he was, in the middle of the night, trying to cheer up a vampire of all things. Not only that, the vampire in question was his incredibly attractive best friend whom he had kissed after the whole species confession—

…

Wait.

“_I kissed Roman!?_”

He was dead. He had died and gone to the afterlife out of pure untamed horror. The memory was fuzzy, but now he couldn’t shake the phantom sensation of their lips pressing together.

“Are you alright, Virgil?” Roman’s voice was suddenly urgent with worry and he approached rapidly, taking a seat next to his friend on the bed.

“D… did we…?” Virgil gestured to his lips and pointed at Roman. If the way the vampire tensed up was any indication then they had in fact… oh, dear god. His heart had stopped. “I-I am so sorry!”

“Don’t worry! I really didn’t mind! Oh, uh…”

Now there were two blushing idiots on the bed. There was a beat of tense silence. Two. Three.

“… maybe we should get some sleep?” Roman suggested, his voice a bare squeak.

“Yeah, okay” Virgil agreed, his voice had gone up a few pitches as well. “But… can I… ask something weird?”

“No, I cannot turn into a bat” Roman huffed. He was smiling.

“Not that, although, good to know.” They chuckled. Virgil went serious. “I… I don’t want to be alone tonight” he confessed, pulling up his knees to his chest securely. Roman blinked at him.

“You want to stay with me?” Before Virgil could backpedal and regret his words, Roman gave him a side hug. “I’m surprised you’re not running away screaming. I do prefer this over the other scenario, I just don’t understand…” His eyes seemed to be watching something far away. “Why? How are you so… chill with this?”

Virgil leaned into the hug, soaking up the warmth radiating from within his friend… okay, maybe he would call him his crush, but only internally. The warmth seeped into his bones and made him feel safe once again.

“Because you’re you. And I trust you” he explained, then in a quieter voice he added, “What you are doesn’t define who you are.”

Almost instantaneously a pair of strong arms wrapped around him in an embrace, holding him close. Virgil could feel the heartbeat in Roman’s chest and closed his eyes to it. This felt nice. It felt right.

They shuffled until they were laying down together, Virgil snuggled up against Roman’s chest and their legs once again intertwined. They had passed some sort of line in their friendship, but for all the nervousness around it… he wasn’t regretting it.

The taste lingered in his mouth for hours after the incident. It was so mind-numbingly marvelous that despite his repulsion for his needs he managed to keep it down. Hours later, seeing Virgil cuddled up against him he was filled with a strange feeling. He had yet to figure out if it was the aura around the short man, or if it were his own emotions. He kind of hoped they were his own.

He pressed a quick soft kiss to the top of Virgil’s head after he had started snoring, wondering to himself what he had gotten into. There was fear, but no signs of regret in his heart. It was refreshing. It felt right.

Roman pulled a blanket over the two, taking great care in not waking his fragile friend… perhaps more than a friend.

In the morning he’d have to make sure to do everything right. Virgil was special and he didn’t want to let him go.


	12. The TRUTH kinda...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just me trying to explain vampire and humanoid biology. I hope it makes some sort of sense.

It was meant to be a nice, easy breakfast. It was supposed to be simple. The instructions said it was stress-free.

“Bullshit!” Roman hissed under his breath as he tried, and failed, to pry the omelet from the frying pan.

His hair was brushed back with a few pins and he had oven mittens at the ready. He’d taken out the fire alarm for obvious reasons as the smoke billowed up before him in an angry cloud of gray. He’d managed to scrape bits and pieces of the omelet off and onto a plate, but there were burnt bits among the possibly edible ones.

“_All I wanted to do was a thank you breakfast and I can’t even do that!_” he thought angrily, violently smacking on the backside of the pan with a mitten-clad hand in a hopeless attempt to make it let go of the omelet.

“Where’s the fire?!”

He promptly dropped the pan in the sink, where finally the rest of the omelet came off. Roman snapped to attention when he heard Virgil’s distressed cry, seeing the young man in the doorway and heaving for breath. His eyes were disoriented as their focus darted around the kitchen area in a panic before it settled on Roman himself. He stared at him, head tilted in that adorable questioning way he sometimes did.

“… Omelet?” Roman offered lamely, gesturing to the plate with the scraps of ruined, half-cooked ingredients.

There was a pause of stillness, followed by a resounding smack when Virgil facepalmed hard.

After they had narrowly avoided being killed in a fire due to Roman’s complete inability to navigate a kitchen, they had a typical breakfast involving cornflakes and toasts with butter and cheese. Roman was feeling somewhat crestfallen in the face of defeat against something so simple. Virgil must’ve noticed because he elbowed him quietly.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said with a gentle smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “It’s the thought that counts, right?” Roman didn’t answer properly, only gave a weak hum of acknowledgment. Virgil frowned, nose scrunching up in that comically cute way when he was dissatisfied with something. “Are you upset because… you know?” He tilted his head back, exposing his bandage-covered throat briefly. Roman filled his mouth with a spoonful of cornflakes and milk to avoid having to answer. Virgil huffed and seemed to be letting it go, until… “At least tell me how I tasted.”

Roman immediately sputtered on his mouthful, milk dripping down his chin and onto his shirt, his face heating up. Virgil cackled with delight, throwing his head back in amusement.

“Why would you say that?!” Roman demanded, more ashamed than anything.

“’ Cause I’m legit curious!” Virgil retorted playfully. He was nibbling his lower lip, trying to bite back a grin. “Am I salty? Sweet? Bitter?”

“I-I can’t tell you that!” he protested wildly, shaking his head aggressively.

“Oh, come on!”

“No!”

“Tell me!”

“I won’t!”

“I wanna know!”

“Too bad!”

“Pleeeeaaaseee!!”

At this point in time, Virgil was tugging Roman’s sleeve like a bratty child demanding snacks before dinner.

“It’s humiliating!”

“I promise I won’t laugh!”

He would’ve told Virgil off once and for all, however, the words were stolen from him when he turned to make eye contact. Those dark oceanic pearls were gleaming with splendor at him and he suddenly realized,

“You have puppy eyes”

Virgil’s lips formed a thin line, his shoulders giving him away as he tried to keep in the laughter. He took a few moments to still himself and proceeded to make that heart-wrenching expression.

Roman had to look away so he buried his face in his hands, groaning heavily. Now he was feeling like an asshole.

“You tasted…” In the corner of his senses, he heard Virgil straighten up and chuckled to himself at the show of childlike wonder. “… truly heavenly. Crisp like spring water, yet you have underlying tones that are hiding in the heat… it wasn’t exactly a taste, but more of a feeling” he admitted in defeat, his mouth watering as he brought back the memory. Virgil’s ensuing silence spoke volumes and he decided to answer the unspoken question. “It felt empowering.” Then in a much quieter tone, he added, “It felt like I could do anything.”

When he received no response he grew scared to look up. Had he freaked Virgil out? He should’ve just gone with his gut and stayed silent about it. Now Virgil must’ve been disgusted with him and regretting to even offer his blood in the first place—

“Really?”

He sounded speechless. Roman chanced a look at him and found himself lost in the awestruck gleam in Virgil’s eyes. Suspicion settled in his gut like a rock.

“You’re not… freaked out?” A denying shake of the head. “Disgusted?” Another shake. “… huh.”

They sat in silence, eating more of their breakfast. Relief helped ease the tension in Roman’s system now that he could consume proper food again.

“Hey, Princey?”

“Hm?” he nodded to Virgil as if to say ‘go on’.

“Does your fangs have poison?”

He didn’t know what was more embarrassing; the fact that he had to think about it for longer than he cared to admit, or the fact that he had actually forgotten so much in the last five years.

“I do believe there’s a faint amount in my saliva” he winced, uncomfortable to talk about it so openly. “It should only last for however long we feed to make the, erm… victim more compliant”

“That’s weird”

“_Okay, ouch. True, but ouch._” he thought to himself, feeling disgraced.

“I could’ve sworn I was still riding on that drug high”

Roman clumsily dropped his spoon into the bowl with a loud clang. In his mind, he was searching for information he had tried to ignore for so long. Was it possible for other humanoids to react differently on the venom? He did think there were other creatures that had in fact either a stronger or no effect at the venom. But weren’t those only active genes that acted that way or could the dormant gens still react on the venom?

“Princey?”

“Uh, huh?” he blurted, snapping out of his thoughts.

“Are you okay with talking about your, um, vampirism?” Virgil asked gingerly, fiddling with his sleeve. Roman never liked that word or any word that had anything to do with his subspecies for that matter. How he wished he could’ve stayed human.

He exhaled slowly and nodded tiredly.

“I don’t like talking about it, but… I might have to” he confessed hesitantly. “And, full disclosure, I’m more alright talking about it with you rather than others like me.” He tried for a smile. It didn’t feel right. “What would you like to know?”

“Firstly, are you allergic to garlic or silver or anything else that could kill you that I should be mindful not to bring into the apartment?”

The fact that Virgil’s first and foremost concern had to do with Roman’s well-being actually made him feel a little better. Despite it all, it was still his friend who took others into account before himself.

“Allergies huh?” He pondered for a while. “Okay so first of all, garlic can’t kill me, it only makes my stomach upset, but nothing serious. Silver is a complete myth and sunlight only really bothers my eyes as I have natural dark vision. The only thing that could really kill me is shellfish, like shrimp or crab, and that has nothing to do with my condition.”

“Okay, good to know” Virgil’s fingers were tapping away at the table, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. “Should I be worried that something else might be trying to kill you?” He seemed so genuinely worried it made Roman’s heart ache.

“Nothing I’m aware of, or at least not anyone after me specifically,” he said somberly. “Of course there are people out there that want to massacre us, but I personally haven’t done anything to provoke such attention.”

“Alright, that’s good” Virgil sighed with relief. He fidgeted with his nails and held his breath. Roman had a feeling he knew what the next question would be and braced himself. “Ho… how much blood do you need?” it was but a mumble.

“Normally? Two bags a month.” He frowned, his eyes trailing over to the bandage around Virgil’s throat and guilt washed over him in waves.

“All at once?”

“No, I… I’m not a prime example, but on my good days, I take a few sips late at night to help me digest my meals. Sometimes I will let down a few drops in my water for good measure. Remus on the other hand—”

“Remus is a vampire too??”

He couldn’t help himself: he burst out laughing. The way Virgil’s eyes almost seemed to pop out of their sockets, his jaw hanging open was too fucking funny. The pale man blushed as Roman laughed, the heavy weight inside him easing up. It unexpectedly felt easier to breathe.

“Yes, he is. We turned around the same time, although his transition went by far more smoothly” he explained, smiling fondly at the red dusting across Virgil’s fair skin. “As I was saying, Remus normally has a little flask with him so he can take a sip after each one of his meals, which is honestly healthier but also more dangerous as it increases the chances of other people finding out. And he takes two bags a month, I try to keep to the minimum of one.”

“Damn… I’m sorry that you lost that bag” said Virgil sympathetically.

“Nah, it's alright, I think I got plenty when…” He stopped, a knot in his stomach tightening.

“… when you fed” Virgil finished for him. “But, wait… don’t you still need more, like some for each meal?”

This time Roman truly had to contemplate.  
“I don’t… I don't really know how to explain it properly, I'm afraid, but to be brief; I am in no danger at this point in time”

“Well, alright then.” Something sparked in Virgil’s eyes, a clear sign that his mind had just drawn a connection. He turned to Roman with a curious look. “You said that not everyone can be turned… and both you and Remus are so… is it genetically?”

“Yeah, it is” Roman smiled, relieved that there was one less thing he had to explain. He’d probably leave it to the others to bring up the details since he himself was so rusty at it.

“What about Remy?”

“Hm? Oh! No, it hasn’t happened to him and we’re all thankful for that” Roman clarified, with a feeling of steadily growing dread. “The turning process isn’t often a choice… it's more like a survival mechanism”

“How so?”

“Well, you see— pfft!” Roman barked out a laugh when he noticed how Virgil was sitting. He had his legs tucked into his chest, arms wrapped around them and leaning his chin on his knees like a child being told an intriguing bedtime story. His reaction caused Virgil to frown sharply and he pulled up his hood with an undignified huff. “Sorry, sorry, you’re just too adorable!”

“I am not adorable!” he protested, eyes narrowing up at his friend.

“Alright, I apologize!” He sighed to himself, smiling in spite of the heavy dread clinging inside him. “Okay, so… basically all non-humans went into hiding hundreds of years ago, before the witch hunts. They had some help along the way that suppressed their dominant nature so that they could hide in plain sight. However, if triggered in a certain way their true nature rises to the surface. Most cases involve near-death experiences, or extended periods of time involving intense fear. Heavy amounts of stress can reveal some of the nature behind the disguise, but it’s more often the survival instincts that kick into high gear. Remus once worded it as ‘being pushed past the breaking point and back again’.”

A small voice in the back of his mind whispered “_Should I tell him?_” making him hesitate.

“Wow,” Virgil gaped at him in awe. “So let me get this straight—”

“Good luck with that”

They both snorted out loud.

“So let me get this gay—” Now they both giggled like idiots. “Does this mean that neither of you knew before it happened?”

Roman’s smile fell as if he was hit by a ton of bricks. He flashed back to his early teenage years, how much he struggled against the changes, the panic that overtook him. The memory of his brother rushing into the room, eyes glowing red, trying to console him, telling him it was going to be okay.  
He remembered their donor father coming there trying to explain with their ma there too to comfort them. The repulsion he was overcome with when offered his first drink of blood. The disgust he felt for himself once he realized how tempting it smelled. He recalled all the times he ended up in a _special_ wing of the hospital because he refused to eat and being force-fed to keep him alive.  
All the times he avoided the support groups for his kind because he didn’t want what had happened to him. How he fell out of touch with people close to him because of it. His jealousy for his brother who had adapted so quickly. His anger at his mothers for deciding to bring him into a world where he was meant to be a freak of nature. His longing for being human again. He had been so good at being a human, **it wasn’t fair!**

A small hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts.  
“Ro?”  
The soft voice of his friend calmed his racing heart. He gripped the hand on his shoulder with his own.

“… almost no one knows before its too late,” he said solemnly. He let out his breath slowly, methodically, trying to come to a conclusion. It was easier to make the decision when he warned others of his own kind because he personally knew what they’d be facing. With Virgil, he had no idea what his true nature could be or what consequences it would entail. But it wouldn’t be fair to Virgil if something caused him to trigger and he had no warning whatsoever! He might live in fear of what he could become, but at least he would have foresight in his decisions, unlike most others.  
Roman made up his mind. He brushed a thumb over Virgil’s hand like he had done for him the day before and gathered up the courage to look him in the eyes. Keeping his last words in mind, he continued,  
“And because I didn’t get any warning, I wouldn’t dream of letting anyone else walk in the dark.” He sat up straight, trying to hold eye contact with the baffled man before him. “Virgil… I have reason to believe that you’re not truly human.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! I have been thinking about making a different story on this site and would like to know your input. I am new to playing the game Dungeons and Dragons and wondered if anyone would be interested in reading short snippets about my ragtag party's strange escapades. Please do comment if it's something you'd find entertaining!


	13. Mixed emotions

At first, he thought Roman was joking. He had to be, right? Virgil was as human as it got, there was nothing peculiar about him.

But his vampire friend kept steady eye contact with him through the silence. He waited for Roman to shout “sike!” and laugh at the frozen form of the short man, but no such thing happened.

Oh god, he was serious, wasn’t he? Virgil felt light-headed all of a sudden, clutching at his hoodie as a cold shiver raced across his spine. He couldn’t look Roman in the eyes, instead staring at their connected hands.

“T-then w-what…” he stammered, unable to finish his sentence, his grip on his friend tightening significantly.

“I really don’t know” Roman admitted with a slow exhale, shoulders slumping. He had an apologetic air around him as he said it. “Trust me I’ve tried to figure it out since that time you cut yourself on the glass. I’ve only ever met three different subspecies excluding my own, none of which seems to apply to you.”

Okay so not only wasn’t he human, he was uncharted territory! Great, just perfect!

“Do y-you h-have any i-ideas?” he whimpered, this lack of knowledge starting to tear him down from his lighthearted high he previously had been riding on.

“I mean, at first I thought you might be a siren or even the descendant of a fae, but I genuinely can’t be sure.”

Perhaps shaken by Virgil’s body language Roman awkwardly put an arm around his shoulders, giving him a careful hug. Virgil didn’t accept it, nor did he reject the attempted comfort. He just sat there, staring into space.

He tried to focus on anything that wouldn’t leave him frozen; the warmth from Roman’s arm, the sunlight filtering in through the blinds of the window, the soft tick-tock of the clock on the wall. He tried to think of how his buttery bread tasted, but now it only tasted stale.

“Um” Virgil jumped, the hum right in by his ear and turned his head to the side so quickly that he bumped his nose on Roman’s chin. Both young men flinched and retracted quickly, their faces emitting different shades of red. Roman cleared his throat and leaned back a bit, trying to brush off the awkward moment. “So, uh… I’m not the best at this entire education thing, but I do know some people that could give you some straight answers. If you want to meet them that is?”

Virgil swallowed thickly, his throat closing up. He couldn’t understand how Bella in Twilight was so eager to join the supernatural when he became so nauseous at the prospect of it.  
At the same time, he didn’t want to go blindly if he truly was a part of this world. When he’d been reading the Twilight Saga he had romanticized the other reality, as it seemed to cure people of their anxieties and fears. Roman was proof that that wasn’t the case.

“They might even be able to figure out what you could become” Roman added after a long pause. “I could also go there with you if you want me to? But no pressure, you could pretend I never said anything—”

“I’d like to go”

Such a small voice that had Roman not been so physically close, he's sure the vampire would’ve missed it.

“Y-you do?” his friend sounded baffled, but not necessarily in a bad way. Virgil nodded.

“But how does it work?” he asked, biting his lip harshly, nearly bruising it. His heartbeat was picking up speed briskly.

“Well, I’ll have to make a phone call and then we’ll settle on a day with whoever is working at the desk” Roman explained. He rubbed soft circles on Virgil’s knuckles. “Would you like me to call right now?”

“Please?” his mouth said, whereas his mind said, “_Before I chicken out_”.

“Alright, starling”

A warm feeling spread in his stomach when Roman called him that. He could feel his ears growing hotter and tried to subtly hide his face in his knees. Roman let go of his hand and stood up, grabbing his phone that was sitting on the kitchen counter. He fiddled around for a bit, sighed and put the device up to his ear.

Virgil tried to count the beeping for something to calm him down. It was helping a little bit. Then Roman groaned loudly. He turned to face him, arching an eyebrow.

‘In queue’ Roman mouthed at him with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

It struck Virgil as rather odd that there seemed to be a secret organization for people like Roman, what had he called them? Non-humans? Humanoids? It meant that there clearly were more than vampires out there and he wondered what the three other ‘subspecies’ he’d encountered before could possibly be.  
Not to mention that Roman seemed used to this situation if only a bit rusty. Maybe he’d have to do it when he was younger?

“Greetings!” Roman suddenly quipped up into the phone with renewed vigor. He flashed Virgil a reassuring smile that made the short man’s heart flutter. “My name’s Roman Prince and I am calling in regards to a newly discovered humanoid.” There were a pause and Virgil could pick up on a vague voice on the other end. Roman listed up a series of numbers to whoever he was on the line with and walked over to the window like he couldn’t sit still.  
“Not yet, no.” Another pause. “Well, you see that’s part of the issue; we are currently in the dark as to what his nature might be, but I suspect something of equal power to that of either a fae or a siren.” The voice was telling him a few things that he made noises of acknowledgment at. “We’re wondering whether or not it’s possible to come down in the near future so that he can get accustomed to the possible changes.” The voice said something. Roman frowned. “Let me see,” he turned the phone away from him and looked directly at Virgil, “Would you be okay with me telling them your name?”

Virgil, put on the spot, as he hadn’t been aware he’d be involved in the phone call on a speaking level, stuttered on the air.  
“Do, do I have to?” he mumbled, uncomfortably.

“It’s generally preferred” Roman casually said with a good naturally shrug. “But you don’t have to.”

“Then no,” he said in a low voice, hoping to god this didn’t cause any problems.

“He doesn’t wish for me to tell you” Roman explained to the receptionist. He waited a few moments. “That’s alright, I was already planning on accompanying him.” He smiled brightly all of a sudden. “Perfect! So when can we come down?” The voice sounded. His face fell somewhat. Virgil grew concerned in record time. “Well, um, let’s see… it’s been quite a while since I’ve been there myself… is Miss Park still working there, or perhaps a Miss Winter? They are? Wonderful! So when are they available?” He was smiling to himself, nodding to whatever was being said. “Then it’s settled! Perfect, thank you!” He hung up.

“So?” Virgil said, anxious to know what had been agreed upon. Roman put his phone down, but not before clicking in some of the details.

“We’re going on Tuesday at 17:30!”

Virgil dropped his jaw.

“That soon??” When he had to make appointments he usually had to wait for at least two weeks, not two days!

“There aren’t many calling in a lot of the time” Roman explained, a worried crease appearing on his brow. “Are you alright with that? This isn’t too much for you, you know all at once?”

Virgil had to take a moment to think and search himself a bit. He was definitely shaken and more than a little terrified, yet it felt rather distant. Like he could view it from afar, in his own safe little bubble. In the eye of the hurricane sort of. He had Roman as his anchor.

“Yeah… as good as to be expected” he murmured and let out a shuddering breath. Roman came up, hesitating when reaching in for a side hug. “It's fine, you can” before he even finished Roman had fully embraced him and taken a seat on the mini wooden couch they had at the table. With Virgil being so much shorter he could easily hear the vampire’s heartbeat. It made sense that his heart would still beat when he wasn’t immortal. There were a lot of things about vampires that he had gotten wrong…  
“Hey, Roman?” He heard a hum in response. “Can I see your fangs?”

“Uuuuuh…”

“Please?”

There was an annoyed huff, but they parted, Roman’s hands holding onto Virgil’s shoulders firmly.  
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and shifted his jaw. There was a small sound that Virgil couldn’t identify, but it almost sounded like something scraped.  
Roman opened his eyes once more, still with hazel eyes, but momentarily in shades of copper and amber rather than brown and green. He hesitated, letting the air out through his nose.

He parted his lips ever so slightly. Then further. Virgil could only stare in a wild look of wonder. His hands came up to cup Roman’s jaw so that he could have a better look. Two sets of sharp, pearly white fangs jutted from his upper and lower jaw, deadly and almost mesmerizing in a strange way.  
Virgil prodded around without realizing it himself, dragging his thumb down on Roman’s lips to get a better view.

“Are you entertained?” Roman teased him, posing a flirtatious grin at the startled man.

“Very” Virgil grinned back, letting his hands down. “Those are so cool! Where do they go when I can’t see them?” He was worried about pushing Roman, but his inner nerd was coming out as he was gushing.

“I have a sort of nook right above my fangs where they can retreat into” Roman explained, pointing loosely at a spot over his lips. “I have to tense the muscles around my jaws to push them out and relax to get them back inside. It was a pain in the beginning, ‘cause Remus loves to prank people and whenever I got scared they came out and cut my lip.” To prove his point he pulled on his lower lip to reveal some scar tissue inside.

“Ouch,” Virgil hissed, sympathetic to his friend. Then he proceeded to stare in active interest as the fangs retreated back into place. They were still sharp but aligned with the other teeth so that they were hidden in plain sight. It was honestly very impressive. He looked back into Roman’s eyes and saw the copper shift into a warm brown and the amber into the green. He wasn’t aware of what type of expression he currently had, but Roman was smiling fondly at him and that, in turn, made him slowly turn beet red. “Do you have any powers?” he heard himself ask, and laughed nervously at how intrusive he was being.

“Powers?” Roman echoed, a coy glint in his hazel eyes. He hummed in a dangerous way. “What kind of powers do you think I’d have?”

Virgil felt his heart picking up speed under the gaze of the gorgeous man and blurted out the first thing on his mind.  
“Can you fly?”  
If the boisterous laugh that followed was any indication then it was a flat no.  
“Sorry! That was stupid, I’m sorry!” he yelped, tugging his hood down over his face to hide his embarrassment.

“No, no, it’s alright, Virgil!” Roman hurriedly told him, amusement present still. “It's just… very refreshing to talk to someone else about it” he mused. “I don’t exactly have powers per se, just the usual. A bit stronger, faster, more agile, those sorts of things. My eyes and ears are a lot sharper too, same goes for my nose, but it’s nothing spectacular”

“… Wait… how strong are we talking here?” Virgil asked cautiously. The dangerous smile returned to Roman and he felt his hands go clammy.

“Do you want me to demonstrate?”

His brain to mouth function was quickly shutting down and all he could do was nod mutely. Roman got up off the bench-couch thing, threaded his fingers together and stretched his arms high above his head, causing several sounds of bones popping into place. His shirt lifted up with the movement and showed off his midriff. He must’ve caught Virgil staring at the abs presented because he winked at him.

“_If this man doesn’t stop being so goddamn attractive I’m going to suffer a seizure!_” Virgil thought with a dry gulp.

Roman pushed the table out of the way and kneeled down to the floor, placing both hands under the seat Virgil was using. He flashed a smirk with hooded eyes that had Virgil’s heart doing summersaults.

“Hold on” was all he said to warn him before he... effortlessly lifted the bench with Virgil still on top of it!

“Eep!” Virgil gripped onto the edges of the seat and scrambled into the middle, trying to get steady as his heart leaped into his throat. At this height he could look down upon Roman and that in of itself was a bit jarring.

“Now, you’re not exactly heavy, but I’d wager that this would be a lot to regular people” Roman mentioned like he was having a normal conversation and not doing what others would consider a proper work out. “How’s the weather up there?”

“Peachy!” Virgil was not proud of the way his voice squeaked when he tried to speak. “Holy shit” he gasped out. Then Roman kneeled down to put the bench back and he felt his stomach do a tumble.

Roman waited for a reaction all the time, no matter what he did. It could be theater, it could be telling a joke or even a lie, but this… this he wasn’t used to. And after the other day, he wasn’t sure he knew how Virgil worked after all. Given his friend’s personality, he’d assumed that the man would turn tail and run, yet instead, he had stayed and taken care of him.

So here he was, showing Virgil a variety of otherwise disturbing things he could do and got different reactions to what he was expecting.  
The proposal to meet other humanoids? He’d agreed rather than panic.  
The fangs? Roman thought Virgil would inch away from him, however, he surprised him by getting closer, his fingers almost too near to the sharp edges.  
The demonstration of strength? Well…

“That was awesome!” Virgil gasped, beautiful almond eyes shining without a care in the world. He was so unreserved, so openly delighted. Roman was more than glad to see that, to experience that, even if he had to make himself somewhat uncomfortable by doing so.

Even so, the longer he talked about it, the less difficult it got. It had never been like this in the support groups, there had never been someone as enthusiastic as Virgil was now. Maybe except for Miss Park, but even then she hadn’t been too happy about it either in the beginning. Virgil on the other hand, made it seem less like a curse and more like an adventure, which Roman could definitely get behind.

Sure, Virgil was shaken when he revealed that he wasn’t truly human, but that could probably be solely due to the unknown of what he was. He was much braver than Roman himself had been when it happened and he admired that deeply. For a guy who had anxiety disorders, he was remarkably courageous in the face of the supernatural. He snickered when his feet touched the ground and the sound was simply too pure for this world.

“_Oh god, I’m in deep, aren’t I?_” Roman thought fondly, his heart thrumming with nerves pleasantly.


	14. The Crimson Crescent. Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains:  
awkward crushing, a hip zombie, Virgil's parents, two of my own old OCs and a Dunkin' Donuts. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys have had a better week than I have. I've caught a nasty cold. It sucks a lot. Been binging very old videos from Jacksepticeye and Markiplier and some other YouTubers to make myself feel better.

Virgil couldn’t focus when he went to school either on Monday or on Tuesday, receiving odd looks from other classmates and teachers when they saw the normally brooding guy in the corner of the room smiling for no apparent reason.

When on a call with his parents they seemed to pick up on it too, which puzzled his father and elated his mother. They were passing the phone back and forth and the airy noises let him know that he was on speaker.

“Were the classes canceled or something?” guessed his dad, trying to figure out what was going on in his son’s life.

“Nope,” Virgil replied, letting his lips do a little popping sound at the ‘p’, still smiling into the phone on his way home.

“Was it taco Tuesday?” his mom wondered, eager to find out what had Virgil so happy.

“Ah, tacos sound amazing right now!” Virgil groaned, mouth-watering at the idea.

“Did some cutie ask you out on a date?” she pressed further.

“I’m telling you guys; there’s nothing going on!” he sighed loudly, rolling his eyes and chuckling.

“Oh wait!!” his dad suddenly seemed to have an idea. “Has that boy Roman been flirting with you?”

Virgil blushed hotly. “W-wha— no! Of course not!”

“Oooh, I think he has!” his mom sing-sang playfully. “Virgie, has a knight in shining armor swept you off your feet??”

“Moooom!” he whined, lowering his voice as he climbed the stairs in the apartment complex. “No, he hasn’t. I mean, he flirts with anyone, it’s no big deal.”

“A shameless flirt, huh? Be careful with players like them, son” his dad said in his sage voice.

“Hey, he’s not some shameless flirt!” Virgil protested adamantly, opening his door and kicking off his shoes. “If anything he’s a gentleman, the sort of guy who asks you for a dance and compliments you if you look lonely!”

“Dot, our boy absolutely has a crush!” he heard his dad call out.

“No I don’t!” he objected, lying through his teeth.

“You don’t what?” a voice called from the living room. Virgil turned around in the middle of shrugging off his jacket and stared at Roman, the tall man tilting his head to the side curiously.

“Was that him? Hi Roman!” his mom tried to shout, unbeknownst that Roman was too far away to hear her.

“Imma call you guys back,” Virgil said hurriedly, turning his phone in his hand to press on end call, but not before hastily saying, “Love you!”

“Your parents I presume?” Roman guessed. Virgil couldn’t look him in the eyes for more than five seconds, not after he found that hickey on his neck the other day. He was blushing like mad around his friend now even though he’d concealed it with foundation. His hand automatically came up to slap over his neck, trying to hide something that didn’t require to be further covered.

Roman smirked, his eyes sparking dangerously as if Virgil didn’t already have a pounding heart. Virgil tried to pass him and Roman’s hand came out to brush against his own. His pulse skyrocketed.  
It was slowly killing him, the onslaught of fleeting touches and secret smiles directed at him. Roman must know the effect he had on him, right? Virgil knew he wasn’t good at hiding his feelings at all!

“You still okay for tonight?” Roman checked in, genuine concern evident in his voice.

“Y-yeah!” Virgil stuttered, trying to sound enthusiastic. He wasn’t sure it was very convincing.

“There’s no need to worry. The people at the agency are really nice and understanding.” Roman reassured him, taking his hand into his tan one. His smile seemed melancholy. “They’re great at helping people out…”

“Then… how come you don’t go there?” Virgil asked quietly, absorbed in how his behavior said one thing and his words another.

“… I…” Roman sighed heavily and moved a hand through his hair, letting it follow the curve of his head and resting it at the back of his neck. “Can we talk about that some other time?” he asked, his tone nearly pleading.

Was he seriously asking him? This was his own personal shit and he asked if Virgil was alright with waiting? Of course, he was! And he said as much.

“Of course, Princey.” Roman squeezed his hand comfortingly. Whom he was trying to comfort Virgil wasn’t sure.

“I’ve made some noodles if you’re hungry?” he offered meekly. Virgil nodded and tried for a smile. “Oh, and it takes a while to drive up, a little less than two hours.”

Virgil looked at the watch, then back at Roman. “So we’re leaving in like thirty minutes?”

“Yeah, basically”

His heart was thrumming with nerves as he sat down in front of Roman at the table and started slurping the noodles, a part of him still thinking he would wake up at any moment. He kept trying to sort of feel the non-human side of himself, but he wasn’t sure what to feel for in the first place.  
It was all very strange, yet for whatever reason, he was oddly calm.

They ate in silence until Virgil suddenly realized something.

“Wait, have you drank yet?” he asked. Roman froze mid-slurp. Ocean eyes narrowed. “Princey?” Roman sank into his seat as if trying to disappear. “You haven’t, have you?” An embarrassed huff. “Did you at least get more of it?” More silence. Virgil put his fork back down on the table and glared at the man who normally towered above him, full of disbelief. “Are you fucking serious?”

“But I hate it!” Roman suddenly wailed like a child.

“You need to drink!” Virgil argued back. He couldn’t believe Roman would be so careless with his own health! The first incident he had hoped it was due to suppressing it, but now he was sure that the vampire was avoiding it on purpose.

“You’re not my mom!”

“Bite me!” in both senses of the phrase.

“Not hungry!”

“Roman Prince, if you don’t start taking care of yourself I will contact your brother!”

The kitchen went quiet. Roman was staring at him with an unreadable look. Virgil began to chew on his lip.

“… I’m getting more tonight after the meeting, okay?”

At this point, it was the best Virgil could ask for. He huffed in defeat and leaned back in his chair.

“You better be honest about it” he grumbled, crossing his arms.

He didn’t hear it when Roman said, “Like I could ever hide anything from you”.

Later in the car, Virgil was trying to ask Roman more things about himself and his species, which seemed to clear the tension in the air a little.  
“My ma has the gene so she is also able to turn, but she never did. Mum doesn’t have it, yet I still managed to inherit it from our donor. My moms met on a pride parade where ma had gone with her friend, the donor, as they were both from the agency and the rest is history” Roman told him as he drove, eyes trained on the road.

“How come they picked him for a donor?” Virgil inquired.

“He is aromantic and asexual, but he always wanted to have children. This was the best way he could think of as normally nobody wants their donor to be of a different species, but my moms were okay with it. It worked out for a few years, up until Remy was born and he had to leave for ‘personal reasons’… he still sends gifts to us on Christmas and pays child support, but I haven’t been able to think of him as a father for nearly a decade” he sounded a bit disheartened while talking, but it was hard to read his face as he drove in the dark.

“I… I’m sorry to hear that,” Virgil said.

“Don’t be, he can be an absentee sperm donor if he wants to.” There was a sharp bite to Roman’s words, his voice clipped. He took a deep breath and adjusted his hands on the wheel. “How about we stop talking about that for a while? How’s your family doing?”

Virgil took the bait immediately.

“Mom is teaching for a few special needs students at the time, dad tries to revive his family-friendly version of Hamlet and Valerie just got a job as a translator outside the country” he summed up rather quickly.

“How many languages does she speak?” Roman asked, and he sounded genuinely curious.

“Let's see… um, German because duh, English obviously, Spanish, French and she’s currently on her way to learning both Japanese and Russian fluently” he listed up, holding out a finger for each language.

Roman whistled lowly.

“Damn, that’s impressive!”

“Yeah, she’s always been the bright one.”

“… Dude I want to say that so are you, but even I have to admit that neither of us are anywhere _near_ that smart.”

They laughed in agreement at that. It was a pleasant ride the rest of the way.

It startled him when the car finally came to a stop and Roman turned it off. Virgil looked at him peculiarly and then out the window. There were a few shops here and there with buildings on top of them like apartments, but nothing that resembled an agency.

Seeing his confusion, Roman leaned over the console and pointed to a store. It was a Dunkin’ Donuts.

“… What?”

“Follow me.”

With that Roman got out of the car and Virgil hurried to follow suit. He watched as Roman strode up to the shop with purpose and trailed after, beyond bewildered. They’d driven past several donut stores on their way, why this one?

The bell rang above them as they entered, Roman holding the door for Virgil like the gentleman that he was. The place was practically deserted, the tables full of crumbs and a couple of cracks in every other tile. There was even a spider making a web in the corner. The cashier, a seventeen something student with a bad case of acne and a book in the face called out, “Welcome to Dunkin’ Donuts, what can I get you?”

Without missing a beat Roman straightened his back and brushed off his white jacket.

“Do you have any Crimson Crescents?”

The teenager stopped everything, a single page slipping out from under his thumb. He turned to look at Roman, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “They’re in the back, on the house, buddy.”

“Thank you, my friend” Roman responded with a polite bow of his head. The kid nodded back and returned his focus on his book.

Virgil kind of stood there, mouth agape wondering what just happened?

Roman tugged on his arm and led him around to the back. The moment Virgil passed the threshold he felt a chill on his back like he had entered somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. It seemed that Roman noticed his discomfort because he held his hand tightly as they passed several boxes and doors, one of which led to a freezer and the other to a restroom for employees.

At the end, there was a staircase that Roman was walking straight towards. They walked up and found yet another door at the top. On the door, it read ‘The Crimson Crescent’.

Roman opened the door and yellow light filled the staircase, temporarily blinding them both.

When their eyes adjusted and Virgil got his bearings back together he caught onto a familiar smell…

“Are there dogs here?” to which Roman almost aggressively hushed at him.

Inside was something resembling a waiting room with soft leather couches, blankets and pillows along with a table, a plate candies and several pamphlets in stacks. There were an old carpet and a shoe rack next to the door so Virgil followed Roman’s example and took off his shoes.  
It seemed that someone had taken away a part of the ceiling to make it feel more spacious. Above them hung old industrial lamps and balconies lined all around the walls connected by two spiral staircases in the corners.  
To the right of them was a desk with a gender-ambiguous looking figure behind it on a computer. They had short and brightly dyed hair, wearing flannel shirt and fashionable glasses to complete the look. They looked a bit young maybe one or two years younger than Roman and Virgil.

“I take it that you’re Roman?” they said in a very non-professional tone, leaning back in their office chair with an arm slung behind them, nodding in Roman’s general direction.

“I certainly am, and you are…?” Roman asked the teen.

“Ya can call me Kai,” they said and clicked in something on the computer. “Should I send word to Demi or Ivy that you’re here?”

“Oh, uh I guess you—”

A door slammed shut above them.

“I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t used my own eyes!” called a loud voice.

Virgil turned his eyes up towards the balconies and saw a woman in her late twenties or early thirties. She had waist-length black hair falling like soft waves over her shoulders and appeared to be of African-Asian heritage. She wore a sort of but not really business jacket where she had rolled up the sleeves and jeans that looked straight out of a seventies movie. Around her neck hung a silver chain with a ruby shaped like a waning moon.  
Her eyes were trained at Roman and a grin played across her lips as she made her way down the stairs.

“Miss Park—”

“Prince, if you’re gonna insist to be on a last name basis then at least cut out the ‘miss’ when speaking to me, got it?” Her tone left no room for argument. She was now standing in front of them, hands on her hips, appearing to be somewhat agitated for whatever reasons. Her dark brown eyes softened when she noticed Virgil hiding behind his friend. “Nice to meet you, I’m Demetria” she introduced herself and reached out a hand towards him.

Now she wasn’t nearly as tall as Roman, but she was still a far cry taller than Virgil was. It was sort of intimidating given the fact that Virgil was going to be evaluated or whatever by these people.  
He hesitantly took her hand in his and was once again shocked at how warm these guys were to the touch.

“H-hi, I’m Virgil” He cursed himself for stammering whenever he met new people.

“Do you want to talk in private or out here?” she asked him courtly. Virgil was having a minor anxiety attack as he glanced around as if the lobby held the answer. “Whichever makes you more comfortable” she added with a gentle smile.

It was embarrassing as all hell, but he inched in behind Roman, wanting to hide. He hated it when he had to make decisions or was given unexpected attention. It was eating at him on the inside.

“How about we take a seat here and just talk a bit, getting to know each other first?” she suggested after waiting a while. He nodded mutely and sat next to Roman on a nearby couch, Demetria Park taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. “So… I’m from Minnesota, moved to New York when I was fifteen. What about you?”

Oh. Well, this seemed easy enough.

“I’ve lived in Florida for almost eight years, before that I lived in Tennessee with my grandpa… I was born in Germany though” he murmured the last part, twiddling his fingers nervously. Roman eased his hand into Virgil’s, letting their fingers threading together.

“Cool” she nodded at him, smiling politely with the occasional stink eye to Roman. “Any siblings? I’m an only child myself.”

“I have an older sister, her name’s Valerie” he said, smiling as he thought of her while squeezing Roman’s hand as an anchor.

“Virgil and Valerie, huh? Cute” Demetria said with a grin. “So, what’s your last name?”

“Adler” he responded, grabbing onto Roman’s hand like a vice as he felt an unexpected spike of anxiety shot through his system. Roman let him as he ran a thumb over his knuckles.

“Alright… I’m sorry to ask, but I really can’t tell: how old are you?” she asked with an awkward laugh.

“It’s okay, I know I’m short.” They all snickered at that. “I’m nineteen.” She offered him a candy from the plate. He grabbed a chocolate caramel and Roman snatched something that smelled strongly of mint. With the tension eased a bit he dared himself to ask something that had been itching him since the get-go. “So… what exactly are you?” he inquired, worried witless that he had said something that was rude, his adrenaline beginning to rush.

“I’m a vampire” Demetria responded with unforeseen ease, shrugging as she did so. “I turned when I was sixteen. I, uh, was having a fight with leukemia at the time that would’ve won if I hadn’t turned.” Virgil couldn’t help but stare at her in awe even as she gave him a flat look. “Are you going to point out that I’m a black vampire or something? Because if so, you’re not the first and not the last.”

“Wha— no! Not at all, I’m just… Wasn’t sure it was an okay thing to talk about openly” he told her honestly.

“Ah” she went as she connected the dots. “Well some of us—” now he was positive she gave Roman a dagger glare “— aren’t ashamed of what we are. No matter what we are.”

“What other kinds are there?”

“Hm? Oh!” she smiled brightly at him and gestured to the pamphlets at the table. “The Crimson Crescent normally deals with Vampires, Lycans and Zombies, turned or not, as we make about forty percent of all humanoids, but we’ve had a couple of odd ones here and there like yourself.”

Virgil could feel himself go pale as she listed the humanoids, a cold sweat gathering on his brow and fear creeping into his stomach like a lump of lead.

“I-I’m so sorry, but… did you say… z-zombie?” he shrunk in on himself.

From behind him at the desk, Kai suddenly called out, having caught the last piece of conversation through their headphones.

“Hey! We ain’t the walking dead type of zombies!” they snapped defensively. “More like IZombie, ever seen that show?” Now Virgil was staring at Kai with big round eyes, unable to find his voice. His heart was palpitating, hands starting to go clammy. Kai rolled their eyes with an aggressive huff. “Typical reaction. Chill out dude, I’m ain’t ‘bout to eat your flesh, that shit’s gross.”

There was an awkward silence as they went back to whatever they were doing on their computer and once again ignored the older people, one which Virgil wouldn’t let go of his vice-like grip on Roman’s hand.

“You didn’t tell him much?” Demetria asked Roman, arching an eyebrow at him.

“He only asked about ones such as us” Roman responded, once again avoiding the word ‘vampire’.

Demetria looked at the tall man like she was contemplating her next choice of words carefully. However, what she was about to say they never found out as a door above them opened up. Virgil found his focus darting over in an instant, just in time to see a pale, white shorthaired figure emerge from one of the rooms. The woman wore old second-hand clothes, loose sweatpants and a far too large hoodie that almost reached the back of her knees. She closed the door she came out of with such motherly care that he found himself wondering what other beings might be residing within the building.

When she turned around and noticed her audience she stopped dead in her tracks. She looked between Roman, Demetria, and Virgil a couple of times before she fished out a phone from one of her pockets and rushed down the stairs.

“I’m so sorry, I forgot the time!” her voice was much quieter than the one of Demetria, although she did radiate the same authority as the vampire did. When closer Virgil noticed she wore an identical necklace as Demetria, but what truly startled him were her eyes: an adorable shade of orange, the kind one would get from mixing a pale yellow with pink rather than red. Her white hair was fluffy, but she looked young, perhaps only one or two years older than Demetria herself.  
She plopped down onto a couch cushion by the female vampire’s side and reached out a hand towards Virgil.  
“Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Ivy. Ivory Winter.”

“… Virgil, uh same” was all he could think to say. She turned her kind eyes toward Roman, carrying none of the hostility shown in her friend.

“It's nice to see you again, Roman. You should come by more often” she suggested and plopped a caramel candy into her mouth. She then took a once over on all of them. “What did I miss?”

“Just going into more detail, want to tell him about yourself?” Demetria suggested and crossed her legs as she leaned back.

“Sure.” Even her enthusiastic tone was small and calm; it was odd but a welcoming type of odd. “I’m from Minnesota, like Demi, lived there up until a couple of years ago when I became co-leader of the agency. Maybe you know of us as werewolves, but we prefer the term lycan. I began turning when I was eighteen and finished at nineteen. My transformation took a bit longer than most, but it worked out surprisingly well. Currently twenty-eight years old. I… I think that covers most of it?” At this, she turned to Demetria as if to double-check with her. Demetria gave her a meaningful nod. “Oh, right! I have a case of low melanin, meaning I’m albino as you can see.”

Ivory gestured to her white hair and skin with a lighthearted giggle. Her presence was warm and comfortable, letting the ball of anxiety low in Virgil’s gut to subside and unravel.

“Now, I heard that we’re not sure what we’re dealing with here?” Ivory blinked her large puppy eyes at Virgil, smiling softly and openly. “May I come closer to you?”

“Um, **why**?”

A stunned silence filled the room. Virgil felt a powerful thump in his chest as the hold on his hand let go and an arm snaked around his shoulders protectively. In the background, they were faintly aware of Kai the zombie clicking aggressively at something on the screen.

Roman wrapped another arm around Virgil and brought him close to his chest, his words hanging in the air like a threat to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything hurts and I feel like I'm dying, but screw it! Hope you liked this chapter! Don't know when part 2 will come out!


	15. The Crimson Crescent. Part 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman perspective and background!! Yay(?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, PLEASE, read this and the one at the end.  
Firstly, I'm so sorry it's been taking so long, but I've been in a weird spot lately. Hope you enjoy, and please read the notes at the end of this chapter!

Roman wished he could’ve said he didn’t know where the surge of possessiveness had come from, but alas that simply wasn’t the truth. His arms were locked around his short friend and he resisted the strong urge to further bring him closer and onto his lap.

“_Fuck!_”

He knew it wasn’t just his hunger, or his instinctual drive to keep Virgil’s blood to himself, oh no. He was well aware of the presence of his own emotions as it arose several complications to his situation.

Miss Park recovered from his unexpected reaction rather quickly. Their eyes locked for but a moment. Her eyes flickered deliberately over to Virgil and he couldn’t hinder the way his arms tightened even more. Her eyes came back to him with a new glint of understanding and he absolutely loathed the way she smiled smugly.

“We’ve gotten to know other subspecies over the years, Prince,” she said to him calmly. “And Ivy can recognize various scents so she has a better shot at figuring out what he could be.”

“Like what?” Fuck, shit, balls, why was he growling?!

“Sirens, elementals, phantoms, shapeshifters, harpies, shadow crawlers, and the occasional unlisted humanoid has been here rather recently” Miss Winter listed up, feigning ignorance where she was clearly trying to ignore the hostility in the air. “Thing is if we don’t know we could always run it by Berry, but it would take a long time for him to get here—”

“Okay, I get the picture!” Roman huffed, face twisting into a sneer.

Reluctantly, and with a great amount of effort, he removed his arms from around Virgil. He did a double-take when Virgil clung onto his arm like a lifeline and felt his heart swell with perhaps-not-so-misplaced affection. Virgil was blushing again, that wonderful rouge-like shade across his pale cheeks.

“Virgil?” Miss Winter said to gain his attention. The young man jolted back into the here and now.

“Y-yeah?” he stuttered, fingers digging into Roman’s bicep and probably leaving marks. Roman didn’t mind.

“Would it be alright with you if I come closer?” she asked politely and Roman knew from experience that she wouldn’t approach unless Virgil agreed. It didn’t make him any less uneasy. “I won’t touch you, but I need to get a whiff in order to determine what you are and it will be easier if I’m closer.”

Virgil didn’t speak, appearing to have lost his voice like he’d done so many times before, and instead nodded raggedly. Miss Winter nodded back and came around the table to sit next to the short man. She leaned in with maybe less than a foot to spare and took a deep breath through her nose. Virgil squirmed uncomfortably and was slowly leaning more towards Roman until Miss Winter drew away, giving him his space back.

They all waited as she still held her eyes closed, brow furrowed in deep thought, wondering what the verdict would be. Then she started frowning and Roman felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was but a pout, but it deepened.

Miss Park sat up straight, confused by this reaction. With bated breath, they waited some more. Even Kai seemed to be taking interest in the back.

Gradually Miss Winter’s eyes fluttered open, frown still in place and brow furrowed. She looked confused and lost, her eyes hovering at a point in the air.

“Well?” Virgil, apparently being fed up with anticipation, questioned impatiently, his tone that of a worried whine. “What is… I mean, what am I?”

Miss Winter mumbled something indistinguishable.

“What was that, Ivy?” Miss Park asked her, growing concern evident as her focus flitted around the room.

“I don’t know” the albino whispered, almost gasping for breath. “I’ve never…” She lifted her chin up to look Virgil dead in the eye, the movement so sudden she startled the young man into nearly falling into Roman’s lap. Not that he was complaining, but still. “What the frick could you be?”

“Really?” Miss Park was as aghast as the rest of them. “Nada?” Miss Winter only nodded mutely. “… Huh.”

Virgil slumped in on himself and Roman could almost taste the disappointment around him. He carefully placed his palm onto Virgil’s back and rubbed soothing circles. Virgil leaned into the touch.

“Um, guys?” The two women both jumped to attention upon Kai’s distressed call. “The monitor went off! I think Leo woke up from a nightmare!”

Roman could only begin to think, “_Who the hell is Leo?_” before Miss Winter was rushing towards the stairs and darted into the room she’d come from. Even Miss Park was on her feet, creased brow. She noticed Roman’s confusion and her eyes were downcast.

“The other week we had to take in a pair of siblings” she began with a heavy sigh. “Their mom’s a cop and it turned out she put a guy with connections behind bars. A group went to their house in the middle of the night and…” She paused for a moment, probably debating on how much information she could relay while Virgil was nearby. “… their mom’s in the hospital, alive but in a coma. We know next to nothing about their father, but he must’ve been a lycan given the fact that the older brother… in a fit of panic and distress, turned in order to protect his family.” She clenched her fists tightly. “Some humanoids aren’t meant to have such quick transformations, and children shouldn’t have them at all!” She slowly took a deep breath, calming herself for the time being. “His little sister was only half awake at the time, but the fear is getting to her now… she might turn if we can’t make her feel safer here…”

Roman felt his insides twist, thinking that it could easily have been his little brother in their shoes.

“But…” They both turned to Virgil as he spoke up. He seemed to almost shrink at the attention, but avoided eye contact and pushed through. Roman felt a strange sense of pride. “… your nature was hidden once before, right? Can’t that happen again?”

Roman could practically feel the intense stare at him as Miss Park stared him down. He didn’t waver.

“Centuries ago our ancestors tried to flee from a massacre. Humans paid hefty sums to have them killed. They even managed to bribe the mages.” Roman’s blood ran cold. He knew this story. He still knew this goddamn story! He never remembered the exact words, but he would never forget how he felt that very first night he was here and heard Miss Park tell it to him and Remus for the first time. The awe that twisted into horror when he realized that _he_ was one of the monsters in the old tale.  
“They were hunted down and murdered, men, women, and children. Some species were even successfully wiped out. The remaining wouldn’t have stood a chance if more wise mages hadn’t realized that the humans planned on betraying them when the deed was finally done.  
So instead they hid. They cast powerful binds on the monsters’ unborn children so that they would have the chance to grow up without living under a cloak of terror and torture. Their spells were like a woven net, holding back their true nature without destroying it. The spell made sure to preserve them for a time when it was safe to reveal ourselves again.  
The humans were enraged and took their anger out on those who had trusted them, burning the so-called witches on stakes to the cheers of their townspeople. Everyone else fled far, far away. The children of the monsters left behind so as to not raise suspicions about their heritage. The spell worked and we thrived, some of us breaking through and revealing our true selves.  
However, the spell had a catch. We’d be altered over the generations upon generations of dampening magic. Never be quite the same ever again. We’re magically mutated, humanoid versions of our ancestors. We’ll never be the same as we once were… but that’s a small price to pay for the chance of survival…”

A long and heavy silence filled the room as the story came to an end. Roman found himself shivering and having instinctually drawn Virgil closer to him to get some warmth. Virgil didn’t seem to mind, entranced by what he’d just been told. His hands rested calmly on Roman’s arm, his nails were no longer digging into the flesh.

“Dude!” Both men jumped at Kai’s exclamation. “That story always gives me the chills!” The teenager held themselves as they shivered.

“Aren’t you, like, dead?” Virgil asked, fidgeting with his nails across Roman’s arm as he glanced over at the zombie. “How would you even feel cold?”

“First of all, it ain’t like that” Kai groaned excessively, slipping into their office chair further, resembling a limp noodle. “I just need a crapton of fresh meat and veggies all the damn time to help regenerate my dying cells, or else I’ll both starve and go brain-dead. Secondly, it was either this or constant pain and I’ve made my truce with my choice.”

“Constant pain?” Roman echoed, his interest having been quipped.

“I used to have a connective tissue disorder before. Being a zombie, physical pain doesn’t bother me nearly as much and I can actually go skate with my friends and have fun” Kai explained, smiling contently. They chuckled, “Although, god help me if I actually break a bone, I need even more food to heal that crap.”

“So… let me get this straight…”

“Good luck” Roman, Kai _and_ Miss Park all said at once.

“Fine, let me get this gay!” Virgil sighed. Kai cackled as they brought up a french fry to their mouth that they apparently had stored away in a drawer. “You eat a lot to renew your body?”

“Yeah, basically” Kai shrugged nonchalantly as if this information hadn’t just blown Virgil away even further. “Pain isn’t really a thing for me anymore, plus I’m like super indestructible!”

“How indestructible are we talking about?”

“I could jump off a three story building and only get a twisted ankle.”

“Holy shit!”

“I know right?!”

Roman grinned as Virgil turned around on the couch to have a more in-depth conversation with Kai, his inner nerd coming out for everyone to see.

There was a tap on his shoulder. He looked up and came face to face with Miss Park, who had a grim expression. She gestured for him to follow her.

Looking between Virgil and Kai once more he deemed it safe to leave them to their own devices before he got up and followed Miss Park to the other floor. She opened the door to a familiar room and both entered. The soft click as the wooden panel slid shut felt like a deafening boom in his ears.  
The room was lined with old pictures and drawings, and a bookshelf in the corner. By a wall stood a desk with a wooden chair, the desk full of office supplies and a laptop.

“Let me guess; you have an idea of what he could be?” Roman said, voice clipped and to the point.

“Actually no. But I saw the foundation on his neck, Prince.” His heart almost stopped. “Did you, or did you not, bite him?”

He should’ve known she’d figure it out. Miss Park was a perceptive woman; she could puzzle together situations before most people even realized there _was_ a situation in the first place.  
Miss Park probably expected such a mishap from him, such a complete blunder! He’d never been any good at… being what he was… he had been better at being human. She could see right through him, just like always, like she could with everyone.

Roman felt his eyes sting with the promise of tears and aggressively blinked them away. Most people yelled when they got angry. Roman, on the other hand, would cry for some reason. He was such a failure, there was no denying it!

“Hey, Roman.” Her voice was sharp, cutting through his mind like a blade. He held his breath, awaiting the onslaught of punishing words that he rightly deserved. He hadn’t been able to control himself, just like how people depicted his... his kind. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder firmly. Roman flinched but refused to look her in the eye. If he did, the waterworks would start. He hated it when that happened. “I don’t fault you.”

…

What?

“Wha…?”

Finally, he turned his eyes to meet hers and like he’d predicted, a few tears slipped out. He searched her face, trying to decipher what she’d just said, some hidden meaning because surely she couldn’t have meant those words?

Her hand squeezed his shoulder. Her lips were pressed tight, her almost black eyes steady and focused at him. She was as resolute as ever.

“It was only a matter of time. I’m more surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

Oh. Of course. She’d expected him to mess up, of course she had! His eyes burned with unshed tears, frustrated, no, **furious with himself.**

“What I mean, Roman Prince, is that we all lose control sooner or later.” Miss Park continued effortlessly. “Not in as grand a fashion as Hollywood would like to believe, but we do falter at times. It’s humane, and we’re known as a subspecies because we are so alike humans.” 

He huffed out a shallow laugh, tears betraying him and running down his cheeks. "_Shit, fuck, damn it!_" 

“Like you ever lost it!” he rasped, aggressively rubbing at his eyes with sleeve-covered palms. 

“I have. Several times” she said mournfully, letting go of his shoulder and clasping her hands behind her back. “Once shortly after my recovery when I was newly turned. Being a young vampire in a hospital was dangerous as the place contains a lot of blood. I blacked out. My father found me in a restricted area. I still don’t know how I got in there, but my fingers were bruised and there were nasty marks on the metal door alongside a fire extinguisher, one that was in a very bad shape. He later told me I had been sitting in the middle of the room, in a shallow pool of blood with a few torn and empty bags, crying as I tried to scoop it up in my hands to still my hunger.  
Another time I lost it was when I had moved in with Ivy. Thank god lycans regenerate so fast, but I felt awful. Still do. She could’ve easily overpowered me, yet she didn’t. Said she didn’t want me to be in pain.” 

Roman was utterly speechless, like someone had punched all the air out of his lungs. Even so, if he’d been capable of speaking, there were no words he knew of that could’ve expressed what he felt.  
So he stared at the woman, trying to comprehend how this composed being ever had been having self-control issues. And more than once? 

“It’s truly remarkable it took you this long to lose it” she continued after a pregnant pause, gazing up at him intently, her dark eyes an endless abyss. It was unnerving, not like Virgil’s dark eyes. No, Virgil’s eyes were the galaxy and the ocean all at once, full of color and life. Miss Park’s eyes were just darkness, hiding all the demons of a lifetime behind them. “And Virgil is a good kid.” 

“He’s not a kid, he’s nineteen.” Roman heard himself say, almost startled to hear his own voice again. She smirked. 

“I’ve got a decade on both of you, you’re kids to me” she retorted playfully. “The thing is, he cares about you. I could sense it.” She paused, a small frown on her lips as she thought to herself. “He’s… different. His aura… it’s strained like it contains something huge. I’m almost afraid of what would happen if the spell were to break. Do you think he’ll be alright with leaving a sample, like a bit of hair, or a vial of blood? We’ve got to send it around to other agencies if we want to find out. I’ll try to run it by Berry, but the Silver Chains might know more than we do—”  
As she was speaking she grabbed a paper from the stack on her desk and a pen, writing something down quickly. Roman briefly recalled Remus mentioning an agency called the Silver Chains where he had met a strange assortment of other humanoids when he took up a job out of state about half a year ago. 

As he glanced around the room he found an old colored drawing pinned on the wall and couldn’t help him from walking over. Two crudely drawn figures were on the picture, one wearing green, and the other red. The two figures had uneven fangs and were smiling. Above them it stood in a rainbow of colors ‘It sucks to be a vampire’ and ‘fangs for helping us!’. In the right corner stood two names.  
‘Remus Duke’ in green. ‘Roman Prince’ in red. 

_“Come on, Roman! You write something!” Remus nagged at him, waving a red pencil in front of his brother’s face. In his other hand, he held a bad drawing that he seemed way too proud of given the poor quality. He had a manic grin like usual, but it had softened into something that was unusually sincere for the boy. Hopeful it seemed._

_Roman smacked his hand and the pencil clattered away on the floor, turning his back on his brother. He couldn’t stand to watch those disgusting teeth when he smiled._

_“I don’t want anything to do with it” he grumbled, turning back his attention to his phone._

_“We could at least give them something as thanks” Remus huffed, sounding practically offended. Those words made Roman see black._

_“Thank them for what?!” he shouted, his pre-pubescent voice cracking. For once his brother didn’t make fun of it. He just stood there, in stunned silence. “They did nothing! If they wanted to help they could find out a way to undo this!”_

_“… but…”_

_“Maybe you want to be a monster like the freak show that you are, but I don’t want any part of it!”_

_Before Remus could get another word in, Roman stormed away in a fit of rage._

His blood burned his flesh and his skin was freezing. He had forgotten about that fight.  
Remus had made Roman part of the picture, despite his cruel words. He had gone above and beyond to make the handwriting look like Roman’s, to include him. 

Tears flowed freely. He bit back a sob. 

Miss Park had put the picture in a frame and hung it up on her wall like it was a priced possession. To her it probably was. 

“Are you alright, Prince?” Miss Park asked from behind him. He shook his head. 

“… I didn’t… I was so mean to him and he…” he couldn’t speak as years of pent up self-pity and anger broke like a dam. 

“I had a feeling he lied when he told us you had helped him,” Park said solemnly, a finger gently brushing the frame. “It wasn’t something you’d do. You were so upset at the time.” 

She wordlessly handed him a tissue from her desk without making eye contact. Roman cried his eyes out, his nose dripping. He received another tissue. Eventually, he had the whole box in his lap as he sat down on the floor, his legs too weak to hold him upright. 

“… I liked it. Remus reminded me of why we do our work here, so I keep it on the wall as a steady reminder that despite it all, we’re still doing our best to help people” she explained, her voice taking on a soft tone, the sharp edge no longer as present. “… Even if the puns are god awful.” 

“His sense of humor is even worse these days” Roman helplessly chuckled, sniffling. 

“At last. Something we both can agree on.” 

They sat in silence. After what felt like an eternity he finally ran out of tears. 

“So… you and Virgil” Park started slowly. 

“What about us?” Roman cleared his throat, pretending to be clueless. 

“Don’t insult my perceptiveness, Prince” she replied, giving him a meaningful look. “You’re crushing on him. He’s crushing on you. Why not do yourself a favor and ask him out?” Roman could only shake his head at her wording. 

“I don’t want to scare him away…” he said, voice weak. 

**Smack!**

“Ow!” Roman clutched the back of his head and winced at the sting. “What was that for?!” 

“You clearly needed it, you idiot” Park scowled. “I know you can be clueless, but this is ridiculous!” 

“Whatever are you talking about?!” Roman demanded. 

“Holy fucking shit.” The fact that she swore so openly shocked him, but then again, he was legally an adult now and not the kid she needed to watch her words around anymore. “Alright, Prince, you listen to me, and you listen good! Virgil has anxiety, that much is obvious. There is always going to be something he is afraid of, you can’t change that. But out of everything I’ve seen tonight I can say with certainty that you’re the only person he isn’t frightened of, because whenever he seemed to freak out he went to you! You made him feel safe, not scared! Now, if you’re done pretending to not be a gay disaster, you go out there and sweep him off his feet!” 

“It’s not that easy!” Roman hissed, face heating up. 

“Oh please!” she groaned heavily. “The boy practically swooned when you put your arms around him!” 

“I will not talk to you about my car crash of a love life!” he complained excessively. 

“Fine!” she sighed with a big roll of her eyes and got up on her feet. “Then let's get down there instead, I need to ask Kai to fill out reports and send out a few emails.” She stood by the door with a grip on the handle, looking to Roman expectantly. “You coming or what?” 

Without another word, both of them made their way down. 

“Good lord, dude, no! Stop that, those items are useless!” Kai argued loud and clear. 

It was a strange scene given how scared Virgil had been of them before. He was now behind the desk, sitting in the chair and tapping away on the computer, Kai right behind him and teaching him something it seemed. The two didn’t appear to be seeing eye to eye on matters. 

“But I need them for my potions!” Virgil protested, engrossed in whatever they were doing, not paying attention as Roman came down with Miss Park. 

“Ya have enough, now quit using up your item slots!” Kai barked back, reaching over to do something. Virgil abruptly let go of the keyboard to swat the teenager away. “Dude, they’re attacking you, pay attention!” 

“Aah! Stop messing it up then!” he cried out, panicking at whatever was going on in the computer. “Crap, crap, crap! How do I take my healing potions?? Or the stamina??” 

“Oh, you’re so dead” Kai groaned, pulling their hands back as if to say ‘I give up’. 

“No, no, no, no, no! Ah!” Virgil froze in his seat for a few seconds, staring at the screen. “Fuck!" 

“Okay, lemme show you how it's done” Kai shooed him out of the chair and took their rightful place, making a show of cracking their knuckles. 

“Ahem." 

Both of them snapped to attention, Kai like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and Virgil was just flat out embarrassed. 

“… Hi, Demi” Kai offered a weak wave. 

“What are you doing?” Miss Park demanded coldly. Roman felt bad for the kid. It was awful to be bossed around by Miss Park or having her wrath fixated on you. 

“… showing Virgil how to play War in the North” they confessed reluctantly, hiding half their face behind the screen. 

“And what have we told you about games during work? Repeatedly?” Park asked, voice clipped and stern. 

“… only during the breaks…” Kai’s head hung down, not in shame, but in frustration for being caught. 

“Exactly. Now save your progress and quit, I need you to send an email to the Silver Chains.” She turned to look straight at Virgil and the young man practically hid behind the chair. “May I speak with you, Virgil?” 

In an instant, Virgil’s gaze flitted over to look at Roman, asking for advice with his gorgeous almond eyes. 

“_I hate it when Park is right…_” Roman thought, his heart skipping a beat as he realized that her words hadn’t been without reason.  
He gave a side nod to Miss Park, trying to portray that he should talk to her. As he watched Virgil go up to Park and being led to a different corner of the room he came to a conclusion, his heart burning up with jealousy at seeing her standing so close to him. 

Someway and sometime soon, he was adamant to woo Virgil. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm struggling, and I need input. I know where I want this story to go (kind of), I just don't know how to get it to that point. So until then, since I want to give you something, I'd love to know which ways you'd want me to take this story!  
I need more bonding experiences and random stuff happening before I can get these idiots out on a proper date. Then I'd need date ideas. Please, to god, I need ideas! If you want lore, I can write it in, if you want to meet other characters, I'll add them (provided that they're in a fitting setting), anything as long as it doesn't break the already established story.  
Please and thank you.
> 
> (oh and if anyone is curious, the way Virgil played his character in "War in the north" was inspired by how I play it, haha)


	16. Wind down time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title suggests, this is mostly just the calm down after the craziness that occurred previously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while huh? Sorry about that, I've practically been in quarantine because of fever and a nasty case of coughing for a whole week, as well as stomach sickness, then I needed to get back to date in my classes once I got all better again.  
I hope you're all doing well, and if you're not, I hope this new chapter at least makes your mood a little better.  
Stay safe people!

He wasn’t sure how to feel while they were leaving. On one hand, it was a massive blow to his mood when the two monster experts came up empty-handed with what he was. On the other hand, he had had a pretty good time while Kai tried to teach him the game they had been playing and found his fear of them subsiding.

Roman was dead silent as they trudged down the stairs and back into the Dunkin’ Donuts. It was almost disorienting after what just had happened, to be somewhere so casual.

Virgil pondered if it were possible that he had gone crazy and imagined everything that had happened, the only indication saying otherwise being the dull throbbing in his arm from where they had taken a sample of his blood. Roman had been a whole lot more composed compared to the other times Virgil had been bleeding around him. It was a stark contrast to the almost violent flinch Demetria had shown, her black eyes snapped wide open and hurriedly excusing herself to leave the room.

He also couldn’t shake the mental image of Kai taking the needle afterward and, instead of simply tossing it in the trash, licked it clean, smirking at Virgil and telling him he tasted “chicken”. Obviously a bad joke on their part, but it was bad in a way that had him chuckling at the strangeness.

Roman held the door open for him as he trudged out, muttering a quiet “thanks” and shivering at the cool night air. He heard a brief shuffle beside him and looked up in time to see Roman handing over his white jacket.

Virgil blinked dumbly at the gesture, mind clogged with information he’d received in the past hour or so.

“You’re cold” Roman said blankly and, presumably tired of holding out the garment, unceremoniously dropped it on top of Virgil’s shoulders. This caused a stutter in his steps, as the jacket was heavier than it looked.

“W-won’t you get cold?” he questioned, seeing Roman walk over the parking lot to the car, in nothing but a light gray and unfairly tight T-shirt that did nothing to help Virgil’s cloudy mind. Roman glanced over his shoulder at him, with a lopsided grin, his hair doing a weird twirl/flip that Virgil had thought were only possible to accomplish in advertisements about hair products.

“I’m very warm-blooded, sparrow heart, you needn’t worry” he clarified.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed— wait.” Virgil stopped for a moment, and then power walked up to be standing alongside Roman. “Did you just make another bird-related nickname?”

“Why of course, I’ve got to keep them coming” Roman responded, unlocking the car and getting into the driver’s seat, but not before he sent a cheeky wink Virgil’s way.

Normally receiving a wink from Roman would’ve made him blush something profusely, but something felt off and because of it Virgil didn’t react like he usually would’ve. He cast a glance behind himself, seeing the flickering light of the Dunkin’ Donuts behind him and let his eyes wander to the tall buildings of the city all around him. Most windows were dark and only a few people were out, on a walk with their dogs. It felt strangely like a ghost town.  
Perhaps it was the atmosphere that was getting to them, he reasoned and got into the vehicle, the sound of the car door shutting creating a deafening echo.

On the way back they made a stop, per Virgil’s request, outside of the city’s hospital. Roman went in alone, leaving Virgil to his own muddled thoughts. He awaited a panic attack he had been sure would come, but to his great disbelief, it never did.

Everything had become so unbelievably unreal lately, from finding out Roman’s secret to being told he carried an unknown secret himself and having gone around with bated breath for what had occurred earlier that evening.

Now he found himself staring at his hands, as cliché as it may be, questioning everything he thought he had known about not just himself, but the world as a whole. He thought of his sister and how she most likely also had the same “qualities” in her blood. He thought back to his biological parents and flashes of brief memories that he scarcely recalled from his first few years in Germany. He didn’t remember their faces on his own, but he had been shown pictures that their grandpa had owned that the Adler siblings later inherited. He didn’t remember their voices; all he had was an old film from when they had gotten married where all voices were contorted by the technology and cheering of the crowd, not to mention the language.  
But what he _did_ remember was sitting in the backseat of a car, the lights of the road flashing in through the window, the humming of the motor and the rocking of the car on the road. He had been watching the stars above him and tracing the moon on every curve until he fell asleep to the sound of hushed voices.  
Then he recalled the humming and movement stopping, the clicking of seatbelts and the sudden yet brief chill of the cold night air as the doors opened. He heard someone, Valerie, whine beside him as they were being lifted out from the car. He remembered a steady heartbeat in his ear as their parents wobbled inside while carrying them, gently taking off their shoes and removing their jackets and tucking them into bed.  
He didn’t remember what the voice sounded like, but he had burned the words of that memory into his mind.  
‘Gute Nacht, liebling.’

The memory brought a heavyhearted kind of happiness. Bittersweet was probably the best word to describe it.

Then Virgil nearly screamed when the door abruptly tore open and Roman entered back inside with a heavy sigh. He gave Virgil a pointed look and showed him a semi-large box with a prescription label stamped on it.

“Happy?” he huffed irritably.

“Geez, who pissed in your cereal?” Virgil retorted, his heart beating a million miles per hour it felt like and swallowed thickly.

Roman banged his head onto the steering wheel once, twice and the third time hit the spot that triggered the horn. He sharply sat up straight, alert and a little red-faced at having broken the nighttime silence. Virgil snickered, his heavy emotions still present, but having taken the backseat for now.

“This lifestyle… is utterly appalling in every single aspect” Roman groaned, hand going through his hair and ending up resting on the crook of his neck.

Virgil frowned at him, taking in his appearance anew. Roman looked tired, exhausted actually, hands trembling ever so slightly and with bags under his red-tinted eyes. Virgil didn’t want to bring up the obvious crying that had taken place when Roman had been gone with Demetria, he knew how awful it could be to bring up again so shortly after the fact.  
Instead he tried to think of something else to say, but his mind was muddled and his gut heavy. It was hard.

Thankfully he needn’t say anything first, as Roman took the initiative.  
“You know all those times I have been out and working at odd hours?” he asked rhetorically, not really waiting for a proper response. “I’ve been working for the Crimson Crescent organization. Sometimes parents of newly turned teens, or even the turned ones themselves, call me for information or help. I usually don’t interact, but my main task is to help clean up suspicious events after they have taken place.” He wasn’t looking at Virgil as he spoke, his hazel eyes focused on the center of the steering wheel. “If a young one has done something… reckless, it’s my job to help clean up the mess. Just thought you should know.”

Virgil stared at him, processing the words slowly as Roman turned on the ignition and drove out of the parking lot.  
They sat in silence on the way back when Virgil began to drift in and out of sleep, eyes tracing the stars outside the window.

Roman smiled tiredly when he saw Virgil snoozing away in his seat, curled in on himself and clutching onto Roman’s jacket like a blanket. When the streetlights passed by them in the world outside, Virgil’s skin seemed to light up like he was made of silver. It reminded him of the other day when Virgil had been looking down on him, worried, but the moon had made him glow in the dark.

It made him think of another moment from that night, one that scared him one second and made butterflies in his stomach the next. It was when he finally gained the strength and self-control to pull away from Virgil’s neck, seeing him so very dazed and even paler than usual had made Roman’s insides twist uncomfortably.  
Roman had been so lost on what to do, overcome with guilt that he hadn’t realized that Virgil had gotten closer until their lips had touched.  
The two things he recalled with crystal clarity from that night were;  
Firstly, the rush of raw power when he first got a proper taste of Virgil’s divine blood, the sensation of controlled fear, fueling something larger from within him, urging him onward with the taste of something so unexplainably exquisite and deep rooting his growing need to protect him.  
Secondly, the speechless awe once it hit him that Virgil was kissing him. He couldn’t begin to explain it however much he wished he could, but his heart had swelled with affection.

Roman couldn’t possibly figure out if this had something to do with whatever it was that Virgil was, or if this had been his (at the time unrealized) crush on the short young man. Perhaps it had been a combination, but there was no way to know for certain.

With a single, firm hand on the steering wheel, Roman’s other hand came up to touch his own lips gingerly, his chest fluttering with an oddly welcome feeling.

Driving up to the apartment complex the two lived in, Roman took a moment just to sit in the silence, to even out his breathing. He glanced over to Virgil and found himself smiling at the way his feathery fringe brushed over his eyes in his sleep.  
Virgil squirmed and yawned, hands pulling Roman’s jacket higher up over himself, his eyelids fluttering as he was starting to come to.

Roman reached out an arm and gently nudged his friend.

“Hey, Virge?” His response was a single protesting ‘I don’t wanna wake up’ sound as he shrunk away from the touch. Roman chuckled and rubbed his arm firmly. “We’re back.”

“hmm noooo…” Virgil huffed and blinked blearily, eyes dazed and not fully awake just yet.

“C’mon, Storm cloud” Roman undid both their seatbelts and opened up his own door, stepping into the cool night air and stretching out his back, hearing a few joints pop at his doing so. He walked around the car and opened up Virgil’s door, and Virgil reacted with an (totally unbiased) adorable whine as he hugged the white jacket closer.

A single dark eye peered up at Roman through the sleep-ruffled hair.  
“You’re a royal pain…” Virgil groaned as he begrudgingly got out of the car, shivering as an unwelcome breeze blew by, clutching the jacket over his shoulders tightly.

Feeling strangely bold, Roman grinned at his friend and decided to test the waters.

“You know you love me” he sing sang playfully, spicing it up with a wink as he closed the door after Virgil, locked the car and made his way to the front doors of the complex.

“You forgot your phone, smart ass” Virgil yawned, his cheeks noticeably redder than before. Roman turned back around and peered into the window, seeing the screen of his phone flare up with an incoming call.

He reopened the door, got his phone and closed the door again, reading “The Douche” on the screen. Roman hesitated with his finger over the accept button. He never knew what to expect from Remus’ late night calls.

“Screw it” he murmured and answered with one hand, locking the car with the other. “Hello?”

“Brother!” Remus voice shouted on the other end and Roman instinctually moved the phone an inch or two from his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you took shorty to the headquarters?!”

“… how the hell do you know??” Roman demanded, eyes nervously flickering over to Virgil who was waiting for him at the entrance of the apartment building.

“I play games online with Kai, they told me you had been there” Remus answered flatly, ignoring Roman’s “what the fuck” huff and kept going. “And you wouldn’t have gone there for just about anything so I figured it had to do with the midget you live with. I also heard that you didn’t figure it out either, so obviously they must’ve taken a DNA test or some shit. Should I call up our brainiac to put this high up on his to-do list?”

“Don’t involve Logan in this yet, I’m sure he has his own crap to deal with” Roman groaned exasperatedly. He gestured for Virgil to go ahead and not waiting for him. His friend pulled an odd face at the action but nodded and went inside anyway.

“Oh tell me about it. He certainly has _someone_ to do, if you catch my drift!”

“Gross” Roman sighed as he rubbed his temple.

“Come on! You’re not even curious??”

“Of course I am, but these topics are private!”

The Prince-Duke twins had this sort of silent competition where, if they’d been in the same space, it would’ve seemed like they were telepathy talking to each other. There was an intense sort of quiet where they both sort of just “knew” what the other was about to do.

“… It’s the new intern, a guy named Patton Morales”

“Thanks”

“You’re welcome, now go embarrass brainiac!” Remus shouted with a sadistic sort of glee that everyone had come to expect from him. Roman couldn’t help but chuckle as he trudged away from the car.

“I’ll make sure to do just that” he reassured him, picking up his keys to the front door. “But I’ll have to turn off the call for now, I’ve got to make sure Virgil is doing alright”

“Okay! See ya!”

“Wait, what? See me when? Remus? Remus!” The call had already ended. “Damnit!”

Climbing up the stairs, Roman wondered semi-nervously about whether or not Remus had been literal or not. He found Virgil waiting right outside their apartment door for him, Roman’s oversized white jacket still over his shoulders and he leaned on the wall, half asleep yet again.

Roman chuckled and cleared his throat, startling his friend out of his half-asleep state somewhat.

“Wha— huh?” Virgil murmured, blinking blearily.

“Just me, Sleeping Beauty” Roman teased him and unlocked their door, ushering the short man inside. “Now get to sleep already.”

“No, not until you’ve taken a drink” came a muffled huff.

“Virgil, I am not—“ he began to protest.

“I won’t go to bed unless I know you’ve fed” Virgil interrupted sharply, followed by a large yawn. “And it’ll be your fault if I go nuts from lack of sleep.”

Roman groaned dramatically while kicking off his shoes, but begrudgingly did as requested.  
He opened the box and took out one of the two half-liter IV bags, cautiously side-eyeing Virgil for any negative reactions, but all he got was an intrigued glance in return.

“Don’t look, it feels weird if you do” he mumbled and turned his back to him, unscrewing the pipe thingy and taking a single gulp, gagging as the blood went down his throat. He managed to swallow but coughed quite a lot. “Happy?” he wheezed, feeling Virgil slapping his back in an attempt to help.

“Yeah” Virgil yawned and rubbed his eye. “Gute Nacht”

“Huh?”

“I said good night”

“That’s not what you—”

“Sleep well, Princey!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I NEED you guys' help with new ideas! Who should I introduce Virgil and/or Roman to next, things you want to see them do together, more lore?? I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND I NEED SUGGESTIONS!!


	17. Guess who??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire twin number weird gives a surprise visit.

It had been a calm and quiet day when the rhythmic knocking and ringing on the doorbell started.  
Virgil jerked at the loud interruption on his focus from his spot on the couch, where he had been flipping through a handful of pamphlets Kai the Zombie had handed him earlier that week whereas Roman, seated on the opposite end, groaned in frustration.

“Not this again!” he whined as he got up on his feet and went for the door, leaving his tablet and headphones on the coffee table. Virgil’s eyes followed his friend as he walked through the hall, already trying to hide the pamphlets under the couch when the door was thrown open.

“Ta-DAAAAA!! Did ya miss me?!” rang out a loud and raspy voice moments before Roman was rudely shoved aside by his not-twin-twin.  
Remus strode through like he owned the place and stopped three feet away from Virgil, who had shrunk down in the cushions due to the abrupt intrusion on his personal space.  
“How’s your week of weirdness been, beansprout?” he inquired, flashing a fanged grin that made Virgil yelp and scramble back.

“Remus!” Roman barked after him, shutting the door harshly and preceded to forcefully wrestle his brother out of his friend’s personal space.

“Oh, come on! I’ve waited four whole days, it has been eating me alive!!” Remus protested, wiggling around like a worm whilst trying to escape his brother’s grapple.

Virgil decided at that instant that it was in his best interest to move out of the way so as to avoid being crushed as the pair almost knocked over the coffee table. Right on time as he got up, the two of them tackle crashed onto the side of the couch and then fell to the floor with a thump.

“Why are your fangs out?! You can’t just go around flashing them!” Roman hissed aggressively, shoving a hand in Remus’s face.

“Oh, I apologize, brother” Remus drawled sarcastically, slapping away Roman’s hand. “I didn’t mean to flash at your boyf—“

**SMACK!**

Roman slapped a hand straight onto Remus’s mouth where the paler vampire proceeded to actually bite into Roman’s hand in retaliation, fangs and all.

“OW!! Bastard!”

Roman snatched away his hand and held it close to himself as Remus kicked him over and got back up on his feet. He turned to Virgil with a crazed grin, fangs stained with smudged blood.

“Is… is this normal for you?” Virgil asked apprehensively.

“Unfortunately, yes” Roman grimaced, struggling to remove his shirt with one arm so that he could wrap it around his hand. And Virgil totally didn’t look weirdly at him, not at all.

“Alright, enough of that, let's get back to what we were talking about!”

“Nobody was talking about anything, idiot.”

“Which is why I’m trying to get that ball rolling, so what are we gonna do now?” Remus smiled at the two as if not noticing the sudden tension in Virgil’s body language. Instead, his eyes zeroed in on the poorly hidden pamphlets between the couch cushions and his smile widened more if that was even physically possible. “Oh, those are from the Crimson Crescent, correct?” he asked as he picked one up and checked it briefly.

“Um, yeah, I got them from this kid named Kai…” Virgil mumbled, unsure how to read Remus’ behavior patterns.

“Well, I can certainly tell you that these won't do!” Remus stated dismissively, tossing it behind him with a shrug. “You’re not a vamp, wolf or undead, so the agency you need to be in contact with would be the Silver Chains. I happen to work there” he added proudly.

“You’re interning” Roman huffed, trudging out of the living room to get to his own, presumably to get a new shirt.

“Shush you! Either way, yes. But that’s beside the point!” Remus assured, putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder and shoving him back into the couch, taking the seat next to him. “Alright then, Virgin! If Ivory didn’t figure you out then we can exclude a lot of options!” He then revealed another pamphlet from the inside of his coat pocket along with a ballpoint pen and presented it grandiosely.

He crossed his leg over the other and tilted the paper so Virgil could see, then began to cross out certain subspecies names. Virgil tried to keep up and saw the following words being crossed out:  
Elementals, mages, shapeshifters, sirens, phantoms, harpies, and physics.  
Next to each species listed there was information on them and Virgil got absorbed in trying to gather as much of the info before Remus crossed it out.

“Now!” Remus said with finality to the word, putting the pen behind his ear and turning to Virgil. “As you can see here, some of these have smaller sections of specified subspecies. Elementals explain themselves, but for a proper explanation, shapeshifters are unique. They have a ‘genre’ so to speak, meaning they can only transform into animals of a certain range. Say a shapeshifter could turn into a wolf, they would also be able to transform into any form of dogs on the planet. Likewise, those who turn into birds can only do birds of a similar lifestyle. Those who could turn into a vulture could also turn into an eagle but not, let's say, a pigeon!”  
He handed the pamphlet over to Virgil, who accepted it gingerly, eyes skimming the words as Remus continued. “Understand so far?”

“I… I think so?”

“Good enough!” Remus clapped his hands together eagerly. “Now you currently fall under the section titled as unlisted, meaning you’re up in the air for speculation. But there can be clues!”

Remus then launched into an elaborate discussion of how different sets of subspecies could be identified without the use of modern means or having their dormant genes surfacing. They were typically very drawn to their natural habitat, which could be anywhere, but it was also a very loose definition. In the case of vampires, it didn’t work at all, other than the fact that they generally preferred larger masses of people.

Observing action-reaction behavior could help clue in on what they were dealing with as well. In the case of water elementals, they very much were considered, at large, to be more than capable of inflicting fear upon others and adaptable to any environment. It was also worth mentioning that they had an inherent ability to move through tougher waters much smoother than other humanoids and the crushing impact of waves hardly affected them, and neither did the wrinkling effect on their skin.

A lot of humanoids apparently had very specific ways they could turn, like how a siren would definitely turn if they were about to drown, or fire elementals would turn if they were either freezing to death or surrounded by fire. Harpies apparently had a higher chance of turning if they ran the risk of falling from tall places where the impact of the fall could possibly kill them. However, if humanoids were to experience near death in a scenario where their true nature wouldn’t be able to save them, then there’s a much smaller chance of turning altogether.  
In these cases, vampires, lycans and zombies would transform in pretty much any near-death experience, since their transformations would most likely save their asses no matter what, with the increased senses, speed, and strength that they shared with one another.  
It really did function like a survival mechanism.  
And, turns out, different humanoids have different speeds of transforming, were too long or too slow could apparently cause either physical and/or psychological trauma. That thought in itself was terrifying.

Dreams played a part as well, although not quite as large or dependable as other means. Remus mentioned it was sort of the subconscious trying to tell you that something wasn’t right and to how potentially ‘fix’ it. It was obvious he was much less sure about this method but did mention that nocturnal humanoids such as phantoms, lycans, and vampires almost never had any dreams taking place during the daytime.

Roman came back in somewhere halfway through Remus’ rant, dressed in a red and white varsity jacket and a black tank top, hand wrapped in proper bandages.

Virgil’s brain was beginning to be overloaded with information and his focus started darting back and forth between the twins. It was obvious Remus indeed loved his life, what he was doing and how he lived it, contrary to Roman who grew uncomfortable at being reminded of any of it.

“I believe you’re overwhelming him” Roman cut in briefly, interrupting Remus gleefully ranting on the topic of how shapeshifters could learn to shift single parts of their bodies and how intriguing it was as well as invited very potentially kinky scenarios.

“What?” Remus stopped mid-sentence, head whipping around to face his brother, then back to Virgil. Seeing the short man sitting with a frozen expression that clearly read ‘processing’ stopped him from continuing. “Oh. Woopsie daisy”

Roman facepalmed and sighed, him being used to Remus’ antics, but knowing how people usually handled him. Or more accurately, how they didn’t handle him.

“Remus?” Roman sighed out heavily, catching his brother’s attention once again. “Can we talk? In private?”

“Okay!” Remus responded cheerfully, his fangs no longer showing as he grinned and got up.

The two of them went into the kitchen and Roman closed the door after them.  
“What did you wanna talk about?”  
“Why are you really here?” Roman asked, not beating around the bush this time. At Remus’ confused frown, Roman shook his head disbelievingly. “I know you’re always in it for the laughs, so what are you really trying to?”

Remus, for once, stopped smiling and he seemed genuinely shocked at the words. Roman had just enough presence of mind to think “_Wait am I just being a dick right now?_” before his brother spoke again.

“Didn’t brainiac call you?”

Wait, what?

“What?”

“Logan? Didn’t he call you or anything?” Remus repeated himself, arms crossed and an eyebrow arched questioningly.

There was a beat of silence as Roman fished out his phone from his pocket. There were no missed calls recently, and almost all of his latest texts had been selfies from Remy where he’s posing with his new pet rats, Star and Buck, in the mirror.

“Nothing here” Roman informed him, confused. “Why are you asking?” Remus groaned heavily and put his face in his hands.

“I swear to god, if that nerd sent it via email again I will throttle someone!”

At that comment, Roman logged in on his private work-related email to find that, yes, he had a new mail waiting for him and that, yes, it was from a certain Logan Berry. Deciding not to mention that in case of Remus not lying about choking someone, he slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“Maybe explain what’s going on?” he suggested sheepishly.

Remus ran his fingers through his hair and grumbled something inaudible.  
“He wanted to meet Virgil the second he ran the DNA through the machine and came up with nothing from the database. That intern suggested that it would probably be a better idea to let him readjust to the possible changes and they wanted me to come in and check how it’s going since I’m more impartial than you are in this rarity of an instance” he waved his hand in a dismissive circle and sighed. “You know, judging how well he’s taking in the news, seeing if he’s getting familiar with other aspects of life as a humanoid and helping him if there are things he has yet to know.”

That… actually made a lot of sense.

“Is that why you babbled on about other sub-species for a good twenty minutes?” Roman teased him. Remus just beamed back at him, as he always did when being teased.

“No. Well, yes, but it’s mostly because I’ve learned a lot of new things at the other agency and I just _need_ to talk about it because it is so cool!”

“You’re starting to sound like Logan now” Roman chuckled. “Speaking of which, do you know when he’ll show up?”

“Within a week I suppose” Remus mused, picking up his own phone and scrolling. “Have you seen Remy’s new rats by the way?”

“Oh yeah, he won’t stop spamming photos and videos of them”

“Kinda cute though”

“True”

There was a moment of quiet as they scrolled through their little brother’s messages, seeing Remy’s eccentric enthusiasm over his rats doing any and all rat related activities.

They were then brought out their own heads when there was a gentle knock at the door and Virgil’s head peeped through.

“Is this a bad time?” he mumbled, glancing at one twin, then the other nervously.

“Not at all, Vee” Roman answered as Remus put his phone down. “Is something the matter?”

“… Well, it’s lunchtime and I’m hungry”

“And we can’t have that, now can we?!” Remus shouted gleefully and used this as an excuse to promptly invite himself into the fridge. “What have you two losers got?!”

“Remus, no!”

“Remus, YES!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't reread this or anything, because I've been sad over the fact that Steven Universe Future came to an end, so I sincerely apologize if something seems out of place. If you come across anything of the sort, feel free to bring my attention to it in the comments.


	18. A wrench in the plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The "wrench" will reveal itself at the end and the "plans" are Logan and Patton coming over to meet Virgil. I didn't fully know what to write to drive the story forward and I just wanted to add some lightheartedness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed some upcoming conflict so it'll be a little bit longer before Logan and Patton appear. Meanwhile, enjoy this chapter!

“Since neither of us can cook, how about pizza?” Virgil suggested quietly, hiding his face behind a hoodie, anxious to get out of the crowded supermarket.

Because of Remus’s bottomless appetite, the two of them had had no choice but to go out the very next day to refill the fridge and pantry. Virgil shuddered at the memory of Remus devouring most, if not all, of their quick meals and snacks, like their (admittedly small) supply of noodles and chips.

He was currently staying close to Roman with the shopping basket in hand and holding it up whenever his tall friend put things into it. He kept looking over his shoulder, not too happy with the atmosphere, earplugs on but not currently in use.

“Sounds perfect!” Roman replied with his usual easy-going smile as he picked up different flavored packages of noodles and dumped them in the shopping cart.

As he turned around once more so his back was facing Virgil, the shorter man felt his phone buzz in his pocket and panicked. Biting his lip he brought it out and waited out the buzzing, hoping nobody nearby was bothered by his weird behavior. Because, no, he couldn’t just answer it like a normal person, not in the presence of other people, especially strangers!

The caller was his dad, so when the buzzing finally came to an end he simply wrote a message saying;  
‘at the store’  
It took barely ten seconds for him to get a response back.  
‘Ok, I’ll call you later’  
That was probably the greatest thing about his parents, Virgil thought. They understood when he was already pushing himself and didn’t press further. They let him tackle things at his own speed and were always there for him when he needed someone to fall back on.  
Every once in a while he was reminded of how truly fortunate he and Valerie had been. The fact that those two wonderful people took them in as their own children and offered boundless support to their passions and dreams. The gratitude and love for them were near overwhelming at times when he abruptly recalled just how relieved he had been the day he and his sister had been told they were getting adopted by Larry and Dot.

Like now.

“You okay there, birdie?” he heard Roman say. He looked up to find his friend frowning with evident concern towards him.

Virgil hastily blinked away the glassiness stinging at his eyes and offered a genuinely happy smile in return. 

“Just thinking” he replied, taking grate care dabbing away the dampness with his sleeve so as to not ruin his eyeliner.

“… if you’re saying so” Roman shrugged, not completely sure what to make of the sudden display of emotion Virgil had shown but seemingly taking his smile for it. He picked up something from a different shelf and hummed. “Maybe I could try making pancakes? Shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Like the omelets?” Virgil mumbled, smirking.

“Oh shut it, chicken” Roman retorted in a huff and elbowed his friend, dropping the item in the basket while doing so. “We should get some pasta in case Remus comes back for another surprise visit.”

“Sounds reasonable”

There was a sudden melody playing, coming from Roman’s pocket and Virgil’s back went ramrod straight with nerves as his eyes darted around frantically. Were people looking? Were they bothering someone? Oh god, oh shit, oh—

“Yeah?” Roman responded with an air of ease that which Virgil envied. “Oh hey, what’s up, Remy? Okay?” There was a pause as Roman waited for his little brother to continue, checking the shelves they passed as he did so. “Uh… can you hand the phone to ma?” More pause. Virgil was looking around as they walked towards the self check-out. “Hey, ma! So, um, Remy was saying… oh, so? … Alright, when?”  
While holding the phone pinched between his ear and shoulder, the two young men helped each other pack up their bags, then headed out to the parking lot.  
“Sure, I don’t have anything planned then” Roman replied to something and nodded to himself. He chuckled. “No problem. Yeah. Love you too. Bye, ma!”

“What did she say?” Virgil asked, trying to initiate small talk. As they were walking he kept finding himself glancing up towards the cloudy sky. The wind had been picking up as well.

“They need someone to babysit for Remy in two weeks, and Remus will be out of state” Roman explained. “I hope it’s okay that he’ll probably stay at our apartment for a while?”

“How long?” Virgil wondered aloud, eyes still firmly at the darkening clouds as a vague feeling began to tickle underneath his skin.

“Overnight. Mom has a meeting at work that’s been planned for quite some time, and ma just got called up by the boss, asking if she had an opportunity to work more next week. If she didn’t get pay by the hour, she wouldn’t even have considered” he lowered his head a tad bashfully. “Sorry that I made the decision without asking you first…”

“Its fine” Virgil responded as he finally lowered his gaze to the ground again. They were by the car now and started loading in the groceries. And as the feeling under his skin solidified he knew what was going on. “It’s going to rain. A lot”

“How are you so sure, emo storm cloud of mine?” Roman teased him with that devilishly charismatic grin of his and got in the driver’s seat.

“Just wait for it” Virgil replied as he too got in. “I’m usually right about the weather”

As they exited the parking area and came out on the road, raindrops began to fall onto the windshield. At first, it seemed very gentle and soothing, but within half a minute the downpour came.  
Virgil casually side glanced at his friend to see how he reacted and chuckled to himself when noticing that Roman’s jaw had physically dropped.

“What the actual hell?!” he demanded, causing the shorter of the two to laugh earnestly. “Dude! What did you just do?”

“Nothing!” Virgil cackled with delight. “I’m just really good at predicting the weather. Useless in the face of forecasts, but a pretty nifty party trick”

“Okay then, weather boy, tell me if it’ll be thunder or some shit,” Roman asked, smiling in spite of his confusion.

Virgil peered out the window as best as he could given the current downfall and scanned up and around them as they drove.  
“Nah, this one will blow over soon. It’s one of those brief but aggressive rainstorms” he smirked back at the self-proclaimed prince. “Wanna bet?”

“… Five bucks?”

“Deal.”

Sure enough, by the time they got back to the condo, the dark clouds had blown past, revealing a bright blue sky above with an even more radiant sun. Roman had no choice but to bring out his ridiculously large sunglasses due to his light-sensitive eyes.  
The water was pouring down the drains on the street, the air smelled much cleaner and spider webs in the nearby brush sparkled with raindrops. There were no sounds of people other than them, and the leaves rustled in the wind. Virgil smiled to himself and took it in with a deep breath. He loved storms, but if he loved something more it was how new the world felt when the storm was finally over.

“… Hey, Vee?”

“Yeah, princy?” he replied as he let his hood down, feeling the softer post-storm air blow through his hair.

“Can your sister do this weather thing as well?”

He was about to answer something along the lines of ‘yeah, why’ when he stopped himself and caught up with what Roman was thinking. He turned to the tall man with a new sense of curiosity and worry.  
“You don’t think…?”

“I-I don’t know. Honestly, the signs can be next to anything, especially for unlisted humanoids” he spoke quietly, despite it only being the two of them currently outside.

There was a practically pregnant pause between them. Which was broken with the very famous words:  
“You owe me five bucks”

Roman all but facepalmed, causing Virgil to snicker like a little kid. It was a contagious kind of laughter as proven by how soon Roman joined in on the laughing. He brought out his wallet and handed over a five-dollar bill. Virgil accepted and blew him a raspberry.

It was normal. Unassuming. Most importantly it was nice.

They walked up the stairs to their apartment with a bag of groceries each, and Virgil realized with a start just how comfortable he felt around Roman. None of his other crushes had felt this way. They had been messy, anxiety-ridden and full of complications, worries, and other such factors, caused mainly by his own overthinking and insecurities.  
While he was still intimidated by the ease and confidence Roman radiated, he didn’t fret about how his own actions would affect their relationship. Instead he… well, he didn’t really know what it was. Maybe it was because of the strange turn that their friendship had taken when finding out about Roman’s “condition” or maybe it was something else. All that he fully realized was that he didn’t fear any judgment or belittlement on Roman’s behalf. Teasing was one thing, but actual malice? From the most modern embodiment of chivalry that currently existed?  
Roman Prince was a lot of things, but cruel wasn’t one.

“You’ve been spacing out a lot today, bluebird, are you sure you’re okay?” Roman asked him when putting aside the cornflakes.

“Yeah, just… reflecting on things” Which wasn’t a lie, but he still wouldn’t say what was on his mind. He turned to hand over a box of noodles so that Roman could put them away high up and his heart began to hammer hard in his chest. While the auburn-haired man wasn’t in direct sunlight, the light reflected inside and lit up his red locks and honey tanned skin in a way that otherwise would’ve only been accomplished in Photoshop. Virgil’s breath caught at the gentle smile Roman directed at him as he took the box from the stunned man.

“If there’s anything you’re worried about, you can always talk to me. Especially with all this humanoid business going on, but anything else too. Don’t hesitate to come knocking on my door, alright?”

Virgil had a brief flashback of the drug-ish high he’d been on the night Roman had fed from him and how he’d kissed him and for a moment he wondered if the vampire could hear his rapid heartbeat. If he could, he didn’t say anything.

“Thanks, Ro” he mumbled, cheeks burning underneath the foundation.

They were almost done with putting their things away when the doorbell rang.  
Figuring that Roman had done most of the heavy lifting with their newly bought items, Virgil decided he could open the door for once.  
Like always he checked the peephole and concern washed over him when all he saw was a brown dot from someone covering it on the other side. He considered calling out to Roman, but knew that first of all, it was unlikely for him to get mugged in his own home, and secondly, even if he did, his vampire friend would rush out and smack that idiot down the stairs.

So he took a breath, the doorbell rang again and he opened the door.

“Surprise!!”

With absolutely no exaggeration, Virgil almost fell over. If it hadn’t been for his mother quickly reaching through the doorframe and grabbing his arm to keep him upright, he would’ve landed flat on his ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The parents are finally here!  
And I have a Tumblr now under the same username as I have here, and I'm planning on posting concept art for this Vampire Verse once I have something I'm proud to show. Meanwhile, have some funny stories from me playing dnd and of me and my partner. There are also images of kittens that were born at my mom's house.


	19. Larry and Dot Thompson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing papa bear and mama bear! (yes, their last name is a pun on Thomas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I'd like to say that I've been struggling with this chapter for a long time and I even had to scrap the first one, which doesn't happen often for me. And I'm very sorry that it's been taking so long and I'm truly grateful that people have been patient with me.
> 
> You're all incredible and I wouldn't have been motivated to keep creating this story if it weren't for the fact that I know people enjoy it! Most of all I'd like to give a shoutout to k1ngtok1 for having been that someone I got to brainstorm with. She's been very encouraging, even if we don't really know each other and this chapter would've probably been out even later if it hadn't been for her.  
So thank you, King!

Larry and Dot Thompson were a _relatively_ standard American couple. If not for their eccentric and theatrical nature, they would’ve fit the bill perfectly.

But as it stood, they didn’t. In Virgil’s and Roman’s doorframe to their apartment the couple stood, wide smiles, and looking like the most stereotypical of tourists, and Virgil _knew_ that this was one hundred percent intentional. The flower-patterned shirts, the khaki pants, their cameras hung over their necks, sunglasses and straw hats, and even their _goddamn_ fatty packs.

Virgil barely had time to process this before his mom tugged him by the arm and brought him in for a spine-crushing hug.

Despite Virgil being aware that their matching outfits were picked for the sole purpose of embarrassing him in front of his (to them obvious) crush, he couldn’t be mad. He returned his mother’s embrace fully and felt with a pang that he was getting teary-eyed.  
His father joined in on the hug so he was completely sandwich hugged between his parents in the staircase of his apartment complex and he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

“What are you even doing here??” he gasped out with a disbelieving laugh, voice cracking.

His father made a half offended humph noise that those who knew him knew not to take too seriously.

“Do I need a reason to come see my boy?” he retorted, ruffling up Virgil’s hair playfully. “I think not!”

“Who is at the do— oh wow!” Roman’s voice called out as he appeared at the end of the hallway, eyes comically wide. “Uh…”

Being an aspiring actor who excelled in improvising, Roman didn’t often freeze. He usually had some quick-witted way to get the ball rolling again.

Not so much at that moment.

He was rendered speechless as he saw the joy radiating around his friend, and the two people he’d only seen briefly once over a video call completely smothering his friend with boundless affection.  
It was heartwarming.

Roman didn’t wish to impose on this adorable family reunion, so after taking a moment to gather his wits, he straightened his back and smiled at them.

“I’ll start the kettle, then” he said and excused himself back into the kitchen, still seeing Virgil’s radiant smile in his mind’s eye. 

Maybe after four or five minutes, the little family of three let go of their hug, and Virgil, with tears in his eyes, welcomed his parents inside the apartment, laughing in disbelief as he did so.

The sight was a little uncanny, seeing his parents in a place where he’d been living and that they’ve never visited. Or maybe it was their terrible outfits clashing with the interior décor, he wasn’t entirely sure.

His mother didn’t skip a beat in making herself feel at home. She kissed Virgil on the cheek, pinched Roman’s own, and started going around oh’ing and ah’ing at the apartment. She noticed a fairly neglected plant (curtsey of Abigail Prince and Emily Duke) in the corner and as she was complimenting on how clean the rest of the living space was she filled up a glass of water and slowly poured it over the plant.

“M… mom?” Virgil mumbled, hiding his embarrassed grin behind a hand. “You’re doing the thing again”

“The thing?” Dot tilted her head curiously. Roman caught Larry giving her a weird look that involved an arched eyebrow and complimentary nod, followed by Dot going, “Ah, that thing. Sorry” she put back the glass with a sheepish grin.

“Well, if I may butt in here” Roman started, moving past Dot to get to the fridge. “How do refreshments sound?”

“Whoops! Where are my manners?” Dot stopped Roman and took his hand in hers. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Roman.” She opened her mouth as if to say something more but decided against it and gave him a polite smile. “Let me help you with the snacks. How about sandwiches? Does everyone want sandwiches?”

“Uh, sure fine” Virgil mumbled into his hand and hid his face behind his hood. “But again, why are you here? Or, when did you get here?”

“We’ve planned this visit for the past three weeks” Larry told him with a firm pat on the shoulder. “We arrived late last night and stayed at a motel. Then I called earlier today to see if you were here or not so we could properly surprise you!”

“Then we drove around the neighborhood with the rental car until we assumed you’d be back and knocked on the door” Dot added, bringing out the bread, cheese, and other necessities.

“And now here we are”

“Tada!”

Virgil had told Roman before that his parents were theatrical geeks, but it still surprised him to see for himself. These people had raised Virgil for about ten years, one would think that their behavior would’ve rubbed off on him, but no. He seemed perfectly content with being on the sidelines.

Larry clapped Virgil on the shoulder and took a seat at the kitchen table. “You’ve gotta tell me what you’ve been up to lately”

Roman could see the panic strike Virgil’s features, his hand reflexively going to cover the bite mark on his neck, and Roman too felt his guts sink upon noticing Larry notice.

By some miracle however, Larry didn’t say anything. All he did was shoot Roman a glance that made his guts feel like lead and went on to pretend that he hadn’t noticed.

“Any cute guys caught your eye lately?” he asked good-naturally as Virgil sat down, hand slowly going from rubbing his neck to back inside his hoodie pocket.

“U-uh, no?”

“Roman? Where do you keep the plates?” Dot asked him, bringing his focus away from the father and son conversation happening.

“Oh, over here, ma’am” he pointed out and brought out a larger tray from high up in the cupboards.

Knowing he was god awful at making food, he took to doing the dishes as he and Dot had some small talk, mostly involving what he studied and what he did on his free time, but excluding the topic of work, which he was grateful for. Sure the association gave them an alibi and proper references to cover up the actual work being done, but Roman’s reference was a bit dull sounding, even if it was true to an extent.

The question came up a bit later when they all sat down to eat sandwiches. He couldn’t miss the fact that he heard Larry and Virgil exchange some phrases in a language which he assumed was German.

“So. What do you do for a living, Roman?” Larry asked him, switching over into English seamlessly.

“Hm? Oh! I work for this one private company with taking calls from potential clients and displeased costumers” he said, trying to pour in as much charisma as possible to not make them pry.

“And you’re content with that work?” Dot asked him curiously, sipping on her tea and smiling politely.

“I mean, it’s not what I want to do for forever, but it pays well enough for now” Roman explained, and in fact, he wasn’t lying. “Can’t afford to be picky I’m afraid”

“Virgil mentioned you’re studying theater?” Larry brought up.

It was a pleasant conversation from thereon. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were very polite and curious, although Mr. Thompson did seem a bit more rugged around the edges and Roman couldn’t help but notice that he received a very strong glare every now and then from the man.  
He already knew quite a bit about the couple, having Virgil speaking so highly of them on late nights when the credits rolled on the TV screen and character discussions evolved into personal experiences. Virgil would often, on those evenings, go on and on about how lucky he was and that some other people took having good parents for granted.

There was one thing that startled him as he found out. That being when Mr. Thompson suddenly began to speak in a language which Roman had come to recognize as Virgil’s native tongue; German.  
From the slowness of the exchange it could be assumed that neither of them spoke the language that often and were a little bit rusty.

“I wasn’t aware you also spoke German, Mr. Thompson” Roman said when they were seemingly done. Having no idea of what had been said, he couldn’t know for sure if they were done or not, but he took an estimated guess.

“Well, Dot and I didn’t want to let Virgil and Valerie get out of touch with their mother tongue, so we took some classes to help keep the language fresh for them” Larry explained with a very self-pleased grin, clearly proud of them.

“I’ll have to admit that I’m just the tiniest bit jealous. I wish I could speak another language” he sighed wistfully.

“What about Spanish?” Virgil questioned.

“Only know a few phrases, like how to ask for simple things, yes and no, how to count to twenty and some colors” he muttered. “And _Perdón por llegar tarde, señorita_”

“… and that means?”

“It means _I’m sorry for being late, ma’am_”

Much to his delight, Virgil let out a laugh. Not just a self-restrained snicker, but an open, honest laugh that turned his insides into bubbly goop upon hearing. Goodness gracious, he had it bad.

“We should get this cleaned up” Mr. Thompson mentioned and gestured to the plates on the table. “Roman? Mind helping me put the dishes away?”

“_Why do I feel nervous?_” is what he thought.  
“Why of course!” is what he said.

It seemed as though Virgil was about to protest, thought better of it, and let it be. He said something to his mother about showing her his room and they left the kitchen, but only after Dot had given Larry an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Which left Roman alone in the kitchen with his crush’s father. And said father was giving him a stern glare.

“_Why do I feel death’s shadow?_”

“So” Mr. Thompson began simply, crossing his arms and giving Roman a once over. “What are your intentions for my son, young man?”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been fuckin forever, but I'm BACK! Goddamn, this chapter was one hell of a challenge! Hope you enjoy, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave dad with Roman?” Virgil fretted in a whisper to his mom. “You know how he gets when he—“

“When he has a chat with your crushes?” Dot filled in with a stifled giggle that only intensified when her son glared at her. “Oh, okay then. When he has a chat with your _friends_”

“Thank you” Virgil mumbled and opened the door to his room.

“… boy_friend_”

“Mom!” Virgil hissed, blushing madly as he did so. “He’s not my boyfriend, okay?”

“Oh Virgy, I was also a teen once. I can see that little love bite on your neck” Dot waved her hand dismissively as she opened the spider web patterned curtains at his window to let the sunlight in.

His eyes grew the size of tea saucers as his eyebrows shot into his hairline and just as before, his hand went up to cover his bite mark.

Something in his face must’ve displayed his panicked mindset, because when his mom turned around to face him she quickly adapted a worried and thoughtful expression. Virgil couldn’t meet her eyes as his mind was hurrying for excuses and explanations. He couldn’t say he’d gotten drunk, not only was he not allowed to drink, but he’d never ever been drunk enough to have a hook up in the first place. Maybe he could lie and say that it wasn’t Roman but someone else at school? No, no, no, he’d be busted too quickly on that lie.  
He couldn’t say that it was nothing, the evidence was right there! The bite was indeed a thing! A very visible thing apparently!

His mom giggled softly and came over to hold a hand on his shoulder. He briefly looked up at her and was met with only sympathy in her eyes.

“Is it an… unofficial thing?” she asked him quietly.

Virgil’s mind was a train wreck as was his pulse. He knew because he could feel it from where his hand was on his throat. His palms were getting clammy as he decided to swallow the lump of anxiety in his throat and nodded stiffly.

“_Oh god, this will be so awkward…_” he thought in a mild panic. “_I’m so sorry, Roman_”

“Yep,” he squeaked out. Good thing that his anxiety when lying looked about the same as his anxiety over literally everything else, so it was never fully clear if and when he lied.

“I thought as much,” Dot said and gave one of her supporting hugs that he usually loved to receive, but at that moment felt like he was having claustrophobia. Unceremoniously he wriggled his way out of the hug with an awkward little laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie” she quickly apologized and stepped back, though Virgil felt like he was the one supposed to apologize. “Air hug!”

And he actually laughed a bit more earnestly as his mom “hugged” the air five feet away from him and reciprocated with his own air hug. That was such a mom thing for her to do.

“Just let me or your father know if you’re having trouble with anything!” she told him seriously. He didn’t know anyone else who could be stern and smile friendlily at the same time the way that his mom did.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it” he mumbled, and hid his face behind his hands, feeling his skin burn. “Can we not bring it up again, please? Its awkward enough as it is” Which in of itself wasn’t a lie. It was very awkward to think that his parents would now think of and subsequently treat Roman and him as a pair. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thought, him and Roman, but it was pretty bad that he decided to go with this lie without Roman’s consent.  
At the same time, it wasn’t like he could just walk away from his mom, into the kitchen where his dad was most likely interrogating Roman and ask the hot red-head to pretend to be a couple for the sake of not having to explain the bite to his parents.

“_God, I hope he can improvise this one_"

“I… I’m sorry, sir?” Roman stuttered, blinking at the older man. He thought back to less than half an hour ago when Mr. Thompson had noticed Virgil covering the bite marks on his neck and felt a knot tie up inside his guts.

“Don’t take me for a fool” Mr. Thompson huffed as he started gathering the plates on the table and bringing them to the sink. “I can see what’s going on here.” The water began to run.

“Uh…”

“Well? You gonna help clean this up or what?” he demanded as he began to scrub a plate.

“Oh, uh, of course, sir!” He quickly took a towel and began to wipe off the cleaned plates and cutlery and putting them away. He couldn’t help but side-eyeing the older man next to him. His mind was reeling and he felt a bit shaky. How was he supposed to interpret what Virgil’s dad had just said? Roman didn’t have a dad to draw reference from, so he had no idea what was going on.  
It was eating at him inside after a few moments of excruciating silence. He felt the need to say something, ask something, but what would he ask, and if he did would that even be appreciated in the first place?

A while later Roman put aside the last dishware and turned to see Mr. Thompson sizing him up with a quizzical eye. His gaze was hard and judging, like those people at the local theater back in his hometown. Roman could barely meet his eyes, like the matching ends of two magnets his own eyes kept darting to the side under the pressure.

“So.” Mr. Thompson began courtly. “How serious are you about him?”

“I… what?” Roman blurted out. Bad choice of words it seemed because Mr. Thompson lifted the scrub like a club and waved it in front of his face like a substitute weapon.

“Oh please!” he exclaimed, seemingly annoyed or perhaps even frustrated. “I was young once too, and I know that look you gave him!”

“Mr. Thompson, I am very confused right now!” Roman said quickly, defensively holding his hands up in surrender.

There was a moment of tenuous silence, as the older man’s eyes narrowed strictly at the younger. He had a tight-lipped frown on his face to match with the furrowed eyebrows. He lowered the scrub back into the sink and broke off the eye contact.

“Virgil’s a good kid. He means well, and deserves the world.” That Roman could agree with. Still, he was only beginning to get an inkling of where this was going. “He may not think as highly of himself as he should, and I would hate to see him with… someone who would suffocate his confidence.” Mr. Thompson took a big step closer to Roman and poked a finger to his chest. Roman felt as if he was walking over a minefield. “So I’m telling you this right now; if I ever get the sense that you’re bringing Virgil down or hurt him… I have friends who graduated from law school that could make your life hell.”

Roman should’ve been terrified, and he was. But not enough for his own good. He didn’t know what it was about him, or Virgil’s past or even Larry’s own past that made the man before him act in this way, but it was definitely uncalled for! He was scared, yes, but more so he was angry.

“With all due respect, sir.” He said through clenched teeth, his pride wounded. Surprisingly boldly he continued, “But you do not know me well enough to judge me so harshly. And for the record, I would rather go through the very same hell you'd unleash than hurt him.”

That gave Mr. Thompson a pause. Roman felt very uncomfortable with the look he was getting, like a frog getting dissected on the lab table.

Then Mr. Thompson chuckled and Roman couldn’t stifle a sputtering defensive sound. How dare this man?? He was accusing Roman of god knows what exactly, made him nervous, then he had the nerve to laugh at his expense?  
Of course, Roman didn’t voice these thoughts, but he did think them. **Strongly.**

“Everything okay in here?”

The two of them turned to face the doorway where Mrs. Thompson was standing, gently knocking the doorframe twice. Behind her stood Virgil and was clearly blushing madly underneath the foundation. The fact that Roman could see it so easily in spite of the makeup pleased him in an odd way.

“Everything is a-okay!” Mr. Thompson replied, clapping a hand down on Roman’s shoulder with a bit more force than what might’ve been necessary.

“I, uh…” whatever it was Virgil was about to say died on his tongue as three people shifted their focus onto him at the same time. Roman recognized the panic form as tension in the short man’s shoulders. “… Roman, could I talk to you for a second?” he managed to finally squeak out with some effort.

“Oh, yeah! You two go have a chat, and I’ll have to talk with you in the meantime” Mrs. Thompson said, directing the other half of that statement to her husband.

Virgil jerked his head to the side and sort of power walked into the hallway, urging Roman to follow him. He did and made it a point to not look at Mr. or Mrs. Thompson in the eyes as he walked by them.  
He followed his dark and handsome friend into the TV room and found the short guy standing with his forehead against a wall, hand over his heart, and breathing in and out deeply.

“… You okay, amigo?” Virgil turned to look at him with panicky, wide eyes and tightlipped frown. “Right, dumb question. What’s up?”

“D-don’t get mad, but… I…” He turned his entire focus to the wall again, staring so much that he could’ve burnt a hole into it. “My… my mom, she, uh…” His hands were covering his face, the pale skin on his fingers creating a contrast to his flushed cheeks.

“… yes?” Roman urged carefully. There was a mumble. “I’m sorry, what was that? Virgil?”

“My mom thinks we’re dating!” he whisper shouted. “She saw the hickey and assumed and I didn’t know what to do and so I went with it and now it’ll be so fucking awkward and I’m sorry, but I panicked and I just—”

“Whoa, whoa, deep breaths, alright, dove?” Roman cut in through the stream of words being barfed at him. He placed a hand on Virgil’s back and rubbed soothing circles there. “I don’t think I caught any of that so just… take a moment, breathe, and… go through it again, okay?”

Virgil only nodded shakily, his fingers tapping in an odd pattern on the wall, slowly following into rhythm with his breathing. He swallowed thickly and turned away from the wall.

“Sorry, about that—”

“Hey, no need to—”

“It just creeps up on me out of nowhere sometimes and—”

“Virgil” Roman finally got his attention. Those pearly, dark teal eyes of his were glassy, letting Roman know that Virgil had been but a few moments away from actually breaking down into tears. And all he wanted was to hug him tightly, giving him comfort, and it was so very overwhelming that he almost couldn’t stop himself from acting on that urge. He slowly took a deep breath through his nose, watching Virgil do the same, and together they exhaled. “You do not have to apologize to me, especially over something like that. You didn’t do anything wrong, understand?” All the response he got was a single nod and a sigh. “Good. Now, what were you trying to tell me?”

“… My mom saw this and assumed we… are a thing” Virgil mumbled, gesturing to the bruise on his neck. “I-I tried to deny it, but I couldn’t think of something else and I kinda sorta… went along with it?”

Once in a blue moon, something would surprise Roman so greatly that all his higher brain functions went kaput as his heart went on a journey up his throat. It was almost like a free fall, but less terrifying.

“So I told her that you and I weren’t together and then she thought we were an unofficial couple and… I didn’t… I just… said yes” he finished, embarrassed. “… I’m sorry, Roman. I promise I’ll make it up to you, but please, please just play along for now, or I don’t know what else to do.”

…

“… We’ll act like a couple then?” Roman said, stupidly, still in shock.

“Yes, and I’m sorry, I know this will be awkward and uncomfortable, but it’s only for however long they’re here, please man” Virgil pleaded.

Almost as if on autopilot;  
“No need to apologize, dear. Dating a cute little angel such as yourself, I can’t imagine it being awkward”  
Then autopilot shut off.

“_… whAt diD I just sAY?!_”

Roman was evidently not the only flustered one. Virgil stared at him in shock, mouth agape, and the blush reaching his ears.

“… too much?”

“Just a little”

“Damnit”

“This will be interesting”


	21. Bad news

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry you guys

Before anyone asks, no I am not discontinuing this story! I very much intend to finish it. But as it stands right now, I have a lot going on in my life.  
I recently got into my first choice of school and I have little time to write as I am in the process of reading quite a lot of study material. On top of that, there is a whole lot of drama going on in my family situation and I am looking for an apartment to have a calm space for myself.

I will still continue writing on future chapters, but I have no idea when they will be released as I have no way of knowing when I'll have time to work on them.

Until then, you can ask me questions about this fic and potential future ones over on my Tumblr. I have the same name there as I do here.

Don't know if I'll delete this message once the next chapter comes out, but until then stay safe everyone! Love you all and I am grateful that you've shown interest in Like the Blood of a Siren so far! Your kind words are the encouragement I need to write!

/Silver


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